>
>They say that, but is it really true? If the G-10 central banks wanted
to
>enforce a Tobin tax, couldn't they? An IMF report on the 1992 ERM
melodrama
>said that the Swiss national bank refuses to let its banks lend francs
for
>shorting - that shows a pretty strong level of control for something
>putatively out of the authorities' hands. My guess is that the central
>banks don't want a Tobin tax, because they're totally in the grip of
their
>financiers, not because it's beyond their technical capacity.
>
I agree - This is one of the things that annoys me about all the talk you hear in the media about we must all bow down before the markets, governments are powerless, etc. Alan Greenspan could announce tomorrow that wire transfers to and from the Caymans, Bermuda, etc are no longer allowed, and (short of jets filled with cash a la "The Firm") that would be that.
Jim Baird
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