Friday, December 9, 2011

@17:35, 12/08/11 4

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The sun rose on a world unchanged.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/the-summit-to-end-all-summits/


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/and-scene-europe-agrees-disagree-next-summit-date-set-march-2012

And Scene: Europe Agrees To Disagree, Next Summit Date Set For March 2012 As David Cameron Kills Compromise

Tyler Durden's picture




Not the headlines Gollum van Rompuy needed at 3:30 am CET, when he was scheduled to have a press conference:
  • EU LEADERS AGREE THEY WILL REEXAMINE CEILING OF ESM BAILOUT FUND IN MARCH 2012 - EU DIPLOMAT via RTRS
  • TREATY CHANGE LIKELY TO BE DONE AMONG EURO ZONE PLUS OTHER COUNTRIES, BUT NOT AT 27 - EU DIPLOMATS via RTRS
  • EU LEADERS AGREED PERMANENT ESM BAILOUT FUND WILL NOT HAVE A BANKING LICENCE -- EU DIPLOMAT
  • And the guilty party: An agreement at 27 fell through after British Prime Minister David Cameron demanded concessions that Germany and France were not willing to give, one of the officials said.
And some more:
  • The news conference by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy that had been planned for 0200 GMT has been delayed by at least 30 minutes as talks by European Union leaders are ongoing, a council press officer said.
Translation: tomorrow's summit is as of now an epic failure. As for the Eurozone lasting through January 1 of 2012, let alone March... good luck.
More:
The European Union failed to secure backing from all 27 countries to change the EU treaty at a summit Friday, meaning any deal will now likely involve the 17 euro zone countries plus any others that want to join, three EU diplomats said.

An agreement at 27 fell through after British Prime Minister David Cameron demanded concessions that Germany and France were not willing to give, one of the officials said.

During nearly 10 hours of talks that lasted into the night, EU leaders did manage to reach agreement on a ceiling for the size of the euro zone's permanent bailout fund, the ESM, saying it would be capped at 500 billion euros.

That figure will be reviewed in July next year, when the ESM is due to come into force, the diplomats said.

The leaders also agreed to explore the idea of providing bilateral loans to the International Monetary Fund totalling 200 billion euros, with 150 billion of that coming from the euro zone , to bolster IMF resources to tackle Europe's debt crisis.


Gov. Jerry Brown asked voters Monday to increase taxes on sales and the rich in California, warning of damaging cuts without new money and blaming Republicans for partisan gridlock.
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Gov. Jerry Brown's public approval rating is still relatively high after almost a year in office, but it has slipped slightly, and the specter of additional spending cuts could erode it further, according to a new Field Poll.
5C2PENSION.JPG
Desperate to plug budget holes for the next five years, Gov. Jerry Brown will ask voters to raise $7 billion annually by taxing the rich and hiking the sales tax by half a cent.
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Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed rollback of public employee pensions received a tepid response from California legislators at its first public hearing Thursday, even as the Democratic governor made a public appeal for his plan.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/jerrybrown/index.html#ixzz1g0auGfD2

Jerry Brown has plan to hike sales, income taxes

Published: Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 - 3:38 pm
Desperate to plug budget holes for the next five years, Gov. Jerry Brown will ask voters to raise $7 billion annually by taxing the rich and hiking the sales tax by half a cent.
The Democratic governor crafted his November 2012 initiative with legislative leaders and major labor unions behind closed doors, relying on polls showing voters may be willing to tax the wealthy and pay more for schools.
The state faces a $12.8 billion deficit over the next 19 months after relying on optimistic projections and onetime budget patches, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office. While Brown's proposal would not eliminate the entire gap, Democratic leaders believe $7 billion is about the most that voters will stomach.
The governor refused to discuss his tax plan Thursday after appearing at a Capitol hearing on his public pension rollback. But he suggested his pension changes could persuade voters to approve taxes next year.
Brown told lawmakers that "without pension reform I don't think we'll have the credibility to ask the people to do other things that are very much needed and that you'll want."
The governor is going straight to the voters with a signature-gathering drive after GOP lawmakers rejected his tax plan this year. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said he has little hope for a bipartisan tax deal in 2012.
Brown's proposal joins a crowded field of tax ideas, some backed by financiers with enough cash to gather signatures without politicians, unions or corporations.
Democratic leaders are counting on the power of the Governor's Office and labor groups such as the California Teachers Association to discourage rivals from qualifying their measures. Conventional wisdom is that if tax initiatives flood the ballot, voters will thumb their noses.
"I think all of these other measures become the enemy of what Brown is doing," said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist who helped former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger develop ballot initiative packages. "They're larding the ballot with taxes. Voters won't be able to tell the difference and will vote against them all."
Brown said he will publicly release his proposal today.
Under the governor's proposal, California would impose a half-cent sales tax increase starting in 2013 and an income tax hike on high-income earners retroactive to January 2012. Both would expire at the end of 2016.
The upper-income tax hike would start with a one-percentage-point increase at $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for joint filers. A separate increase would charge 1.5 percentage points on income between $300,000 and $500,000; a third bracket would impose two percentage points on income above $500,000 for individuals. (Amounts are double for joint filers.)
The income tax change generally affects the top 1 percent of taxpaying households, a favorite target of Occupy protesters in recent months. In 2009, according to the Franchise Tax Board, the 1 percent threshold of tax filers started at $400,635.
"We've done quite enough on the cuts side," Steinberg said. "I can't say there won't be more, but they certainly ought to be a last resort. Instead of spending months trying to negotiate with legislative Republicans, let's take our case straight to the people most affected by the cuts."
California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said in a statement that "attempting to raise taxes at this moment is like throwing a drowning man an anchor and telling him to swim harder."
Brown initially wanted support from business and labor in hopes of taking a united front to voters.
But major business groups spurned the upper-income tax hike, suggesting it would hurt owners of firms who do not file as corporations, sources said. California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg issued a brief statement saying he had yet to review the governor's plan.
Steinberg suggested that Democrats are now looking for targeted support from business groups such as health care professionals who have been fighting Medi-Cal cuts.
Sources said new tax money would flow directly to school districts, intended as a way to convince voters who say they would approve higher taxes for education. But the tax infusion would not boost school funding by the full $7 billion because it would free up other general fund dollars for social services, universities and corrections.
In the same ballot initiative, the governor will ask voters to lock in a temporary sales and vehicle tax shift that pays local governments for housing inmates and other state responsibilities.
California Teachers Association President Dean E. Vogel would not commit Thursday to Brown's measure before his state council formally endorses a tax plan.
"We're going to make a very strong effort to help in every way we can to get (a tax measure) passed," Vogel said. "It's premature to say how much money we're going to spend, but I'm sure we will devote considerable resources to it.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/02/4094599/jerry-brown-has-plan-to-hike-sales.html#ixzz1g0cEAUFM




Debt crisis: as it happened December 8

ECB says it won't start a bond-buying programme but announces further measures to ease credit crunch among EU banks and cuts its main interest rate, ahead of a crucial EU summit.
08 Dec 2011
| 1189 Comments

This EU summit will accelerate a euro break-up not slow it down or save it

Can of worms? Pandora's box? Take your pick but that's what is being opened in Brussels.
08 Dec 2011
| 32 Comments

Debt crisis: EU summit rocked by row over veto plan

A rebellion by Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland is threatening to torpedo the Brussels summit plans – despite repeated warnings that today is the last chance to save the euro.
08 Dec 2011
| 91 Comments

Tories could wreck EU debt talks, Cameron warns

David Cameron has warned European leaders that Conservative MPs could sabotage the creation of the eurozone bail-out fund if he does not get concessions in a new European Union treaty.
08 Dec 2011

Market rout as ECB dashes bond hopes

The European Central Bank has dashed hopes for a blitz of bond purchases to stem the debt crisis in southern Europe, setting off a sharp fall on European stock markets and a flight from risk across the world.
08 Dec 2011
| 28 Comments

EU leaders arrive for summit

On his way into the meeting Prime Minister David Cameron emphasises the need to "protect Britain's interests"
08 Dec 2011

 http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/

"The people in various financial markets with whom I speak regularly have not changed their view on any of this for over a month now: they think that either the debtors or Germany should quit the eurozone – but either way, the euro as currently constituted is a dead duck. The main game in town from here on, as far as they’re concerned, is what action the US can take to stop a horrific rollover effect across the Pond."

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/expletive-deleted/

"December 8, 2011, 5:21 pm

Expletive Deleted

I thought that tomorrow might be a really bad day, because the markets have been pricing in high expectations for the European summit, and seemed set for a fall.
But the ECB has jumped the gun, and started the big letdown early.
You really have to wonder what these people are thinking. Do they not understand how close to the brink they are?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/business/global/ecb-cuts-rates-for-second-month-in-a-row.html?_r=1&hp



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