Category Archives: Treasury
Business Boat People
Business boat people are fleeing America for lower tax countries. President Obama ordered another change in the law to make them stay put. The U.S. has one of the world’s highest corporate tax rates.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
IBD had an editorial and the WSJ had an op-ed on Ayatollah banking behavior. Zany authoritarians worth billions who aren’t Donald Trump – I thought it was worth a cartoon.
Now that the mullahs are getting their moola back, possibly 100 billion in frozen assets thanks to the Iran nuclear deal, they want to be able to move it through the U.S. banking system. That’s been a no-no in the past. Apparently it would make it easier to launder money for terrorism. On the other hand it could make it easier for U.S. intelligence to keep track of Iran’s money.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
Anyway, last summer Adam Szubin of the Treasury Department told Congress, “Iran will not be able to open bank accounts with U.S. banks, nor will Iran be able to access the U.S. banking sector.” Now Treasury Secretary Jack Lew seems less committal saying the administration is trying “to make sure Iran gets relief.”
Since the Iran nuclear deal isn’t a signed treaty, Iran could walk away if it doesn’t get what it wants.
Yellen Takes Off Training Wheels
Janet Yellen took the training wheels off the economy on Wednesday. After seven years of near zero percent interest rates, the Fed hiked rates a quarter percent.
Meanwhile, Congress passed a 2,000 page, 1.2 trillion dollar budget. That tacked another 157 billion onto the 18.5 trillion dollar national debt.
Yellen
On Friday the Dow dropped 370 points.
David Stockman says, “sell the bonds, sell the stocks, sell the house”. IBD wonders if the markets know something the Fed doesn’t.
The Donald Evolves
David Harsanyi at the Federalist thinks the first Republican debate was awesome. I agree. The field looked strong all the way down to Carly Fiorina on the JV team.
Then there’s The Donald. He refused a pledge not to pull a Ross Perot if doesn’t win the nomination. Why give up the leverage, he reasoned. Makes sense I guess. And he said he made Hillary attend his wedding by giving her money. Also believable.
When asked how he came to change his views on taxes and abortion he said he evolved.
Greek Austerity
Last week Greece defaulted on its debt to the IMF. On Sunday Greek voters said “no” to more austerity from the IMF.
Surging socialist candidate Bernie Sanders applauds the Greeks for rejecting austerity from the Euro ruling class. Economics writer Stephen Moore says Greece needs less socialism and more privitization. The banks are shutting down and withdrawals are restricted. He says what’s happening in Greece is the usual outcome of socialism – economic collapse.
Roger Cohen in the NYT says the euro zone isn’t all that much into democracy anyway: “A vote cannot undo a debt or obscure colossal Greek irresponsibility.”
The IMF had demanded more taxes on Greek businesses. Moore says the country is already overtaxed. His solution is a Detroit style bankruptcy where pensioners and Wall Street investors all take a “haircut”.
Robert Samuelson says the Greek economy accounts for only 1.8% of the euro zone and its collapse might not have much effect on the rest of us. Greece only has a population of 11 million. Hell, we have 94 million out of work.
But this WSJ analysis says if Greece does leave the Eurozone the risk of contagion to more important economies is high.
