florian-geyer-steuer

Despite polls showing majority public support for the matter were it put to a referendum, the Berlin plan for the European Union fiscal compact has been struck down again, primarily due to internal strife and international rejection of a financial transaction tax levied on stock trades. Using current market activity, some seventy billion euro annually could be skimmed off the top and shore up emergency funds. Opponents argue that such projections are unrealistic, since without region-wide or even world-wide buy-in, adoption of the tax, places with the tax regime would become islands, cordoned off from the rest of the financial sphere, which becomes in turn more lucrative for not having to worry about this tithe-ling—something very nominal, from a tenth to a hundredth of a percent of the value of the transaction.

Like the Tobin Tax on currency exchange, it would also reduce speculation and short-selling. At the same time, France has announced that it will introduce its own domestic transaction tax, regardless of what the rest of the world does, and given this weak contrary argument, I wonder how big that sphere of participants has to expand, according to the brokers and the bankers, to the make the field level, globally or within the euro-zone only. I am against austerity measures because in general they have been a poorly managed sacrifice (Aufopferung), uneven and without edification, but to corner the market and demand this tribute on any level is not only staving off the inevitable but also perhaps reducing the need to enact those tougher elements of the compact, including member states ceding control of their budgets and social programmes. A toll charge, easily and automatically born, that pushes some responsibility onto the banking houses that enabled this crisis is a better solution, despite any insincere fears of a temporary traders’ egress (to some other haven off-shore), than the lingering deflection of propaganda and stereotype, aggrandizing the status quo, which drains the possibility for real recovery and reform.

persona

There was a medley of developments in Germany today—again touching on individual sovereignty under fiscal solidarity, although at the end of the day, I suppose anyone should want to be part of a like-minded empire rather than in thrall to business and banking interests, and the reinvigourated failure of moving forward on a financial transaction tariff, however, deftly, I think it was the decoy story that let the others pass, virtually unnoticed:

nothing new, really, but quite relevant and publically digestable was the revelation that the chief German private consumer credit reporting agency (the equivalent of the triune of terror in the States of Equifax, Experion and TransUnion) and a university sociology department are researching the effectiveness of the internet and social networking sites in gauging the creditworthiness (Bonität) of potential clients. The team was a little red-faced about being exposed and assured reporters that the exercise was purely academic and on the up-and-up. I would not think that this sort of behaviour, while unpalatable in the extreme, was so very shocking. Already in American, it seems like fishing and harassment on-line is standard procedure for bill-collectors and underwriters. Just as employers might judge a candidate by his or her avatar and easily-accessible reputation (everyone’s a detective), I would guess that a bank or its minions might do the same thing before extending a line of credit to a stranger. An individual’s life on-line is certainly never complete and probably a caricature of his or her hopes, aspirations, maturity and responsibility, and there should not be an expectation of anything otherwise. Protection against this sort of prying is important but also, I think, tempting bait for the public’s and government’s attention, detracting from bigger and enforceable issues. I also found it funny that for all its covert research, the agency was not able to form an accurate picture of the performance of the same social-networking platform on the open market, which just shows what people will latch on to.

overseas telegram

Here’s a bit of typically nannying that strikes me like those Friday afternoon conscientious bureaucrat emergencies that necessarily wait until just before quitting-time and the weekend because to be unburdened and shared freely because it took the problem-holder all week to perfect it:

in a startling announcement, the culmination of some prancing concern and worse-case-scenario research that began back in 2007, the United States Postal Service, not the most agile and fleet-footed government entity even discounting strictures and operational model, has announced the ban on sending lithium batteries in the mail, extending at least over the holiday season and the beginning of next year, should contingencies and controls be in place. The electronics industry is outraged, although some meekly suggest that the ban is not completely without merit, since cellular phones, computers, navigation devices, watches, and hundreds of other little accessories are powered by such batteries, at times embedded and not so easily removed after manufacturing. Private shipping companies and contract couriers will still be able to post in- and out-going lithium batteries, which with the above, makes the decision seem completely arbitrary and misinformed, like the eager gloom of security theatre, since I imagine as cargo in boats and airplanes or in the bays of post offices, USPS and the packages of other companies are not segregated. Under extreme conditions or when poorly manufactured, there is a small risk of batteries catching fire or exploding in transit—but also I suppose at rest, on the shelf, in use, in Pago Pago or Novosibirsk and could be any hazardous or innocuous, randomly chosen, from substance Businesses and the national postal service will surely lose out over loss of volume and the effort associated with renegotiating carriers, not counting lost sales opportunities in the chaos or the large number of American expatriates living and working overseas. I hope that Royal Mail, Deutsche Post, and other rogue carriers do not mend their wayward ways, but such restrictions could possibly inspire electronics manufactures to invent new accoutrements that are powered by fear or by farce, which would still be hard-pressed to avoid end-of-the-day disasters.

picture-postcard

It is an ennobling project to try to capture the world’s wonders and share them with a public that may not be able to visit in person, and though a virtual tour will probably never be able to match the real experience, one effort, as theLocal reports, is falling perversely short. Using the same techniques that allow viewers to explore the world’s terrain, oceans, highways and byways, virtually drifting along any path, the towering Cathedral of Cologne (Kölner Dom) was inadvertently rendered squatty for this go around. The error will be redressed, I’m sure, but it would be a shock for anyone to see a favourite and important landmark sloppily portrayed. Some people trawl around for such gaffes but quite a few things that went overlooked were found by scouring satellite images and now endless pavement, and possibly this awkwardness will renew interest and pride and prevent the distortion (both through inattention and ignorance) of less familiar cultural and historic sites and allow more people to get to know as they really are.