EU wants automatic exchange of Tax information

The EU develops more and more into a bureaucratic and undemocratic monster. The latest news is the 'demand' for an automatic exchange of tax information about foreign bank customers between member states. The EU was originally declared to be an economic union but the main instigators behind the 'project' always intended this stated purpose to be the Trojan horse that would allow their statist fantasies to be imposed piecemeal on an unsuspecting population. Napoleon and Hitler certainly would have been well-advised to try this approach rather than go the route of military conquest.The raison d'etre of a state is that the citizens of that state enjoy full sovereignty over their affairs. Delegating powers to a foreign authority - especially one that they have no control over - is a grave violation of that principle. In the case of taxes there is no reason to inform any foreign government in any way. The whole purpose of putting money into another country is to remove it from the sticky fingers of the home government. The host country than in turn can tax the affected funds in any way it wishes. In the interest of tax harmony it should not favor foreign investors in any way and give them different terms than those offered to home country investors.The home country of the funds concerned has in turn full authority to tax the money as long as it is in the country. If it so wishes it can create an 'Iron Curtain' and prevent money from leaving the country.Just imagine what 'full information' would have meant in past periods: would the Dutch have 'informed' the corrupt French regime of Louis XIV about the investments that prudent French citizens had made in Amsterdam, or should the French government of the 1920s have informed the thuggish Communist government of the USSR?Europe prospered BECAUSE there was no uniformity of government and religion had finally given way to a civil regime after centuries of struggle. How much longer can the control freaks in Brussels be allowed to destroy the fruits of these battles?

Paradox of Banking reform

News that some investment banks are on the way to make record profits this year and as a consequence will be able to pay very high bonuses to their staff highlights a paradox: Governments and Regulators so far have been unable to agree on any meaningful and coherent approach to banking reform but at the same time are unhappy about the results of their inaction. Businesses that are successful are encouraged to do the opposite of what they are supposed to do in a market system: to maximise their profits. The result is a muddle where firms may avoid paying out the bonuses they think their staff are due. In a roundabout way this may well benefit the affected staff in a positive way as the higher level of retained profits will lead to higher share prices in the longer term. This will allow staff to realise higher profits on their share options and shares.

Goldman Sachs - Investment Bank or Commercial Bank?

The answer to this question may be obvious but since autumn of last year Goldman Sachs has switched to being a bank. And the problem with Goldman now being a bank will really be the following: how can the firm justify the banking status when a disproportionately large amount of revenues/profits is derived from trading or advisory work? How much did Goldman really lend to business and consumers during the past 12 months it is a bank? In addition, how much longer are banks allowed to conduct non-bank business, e.g. own other businesses (even if it is via the conduit of private equity - managed directly or farmed out to other PE firms).