MISSEDLINK

 

 

 

International Movement for democratic Control of financial Markets - ATTAC: LINK ¤  - ATTAC

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• "financial globalization increases economic insecurity and social inequalities"

 

 

 

 

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• "it bypasses and undermines popular decision-making, democratic institutions, and sovereign states responsible for the general interest"

 

 

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• "in their place, it substitutes a purely speculative logic that expresses nothing more than the interests of multinational corporations and financial markets"

 

 

 

 

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• "in the name of a transformation of the world depicted as a natural law, citizens and their representatives find their decision-making power contested"

 

 

 

 

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• "it is urgent to block this process by creating new instruments of regulation and control"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "at the national, European, and international levels"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the total freedom of capital circulation, the existence of tax havens, and the explosion of the volume of speculative transactions have forced governments into a frantic race to win the favor of big investors"

 

 

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• "every day, one hundred billion dollars pass through the currency markets in search of instant profits, with no relation to the state of production or to trade in goods and services"

 

 

 

 

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• "the consequences of this state of affairs are the permanent increase of income on capital at the expense of labor"

 

 

 

 

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• "a pervasive economic insecurity, and the growth of poverty"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the social conseqences of these developments are even more severe for dependent countries that are directly affected by the financial crisis and are subjected to the dictates of the IMF’s adjustment plans"

 

 

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• "debt service requires governments to lower social service budgets to a minimum and condemn societies to underdevelopment"

 

 

 

 

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• "at the same time the USA as well as the European Commission continue their free trade crusade"

 

 

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• "pushing for the creation of new zones of deregulation at the continental or intercontinental level"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "there is still time to put the brakes on most of these machines for creating inequalities between North and South as well as in the heart of the developed countries themselves"

 

 

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• "too often, the argument of inevitability is reinforced by censorship of information about alternatives"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the American economist and Nobel Laureate James Tobin, proposed to tax speculative transactions on currency markets"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "even at the particularly low rate of 0.1%, the Tobin Tax would bring in close to US$ 100 billion every year"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "collected for the most part by industrialized countries, where the principal financial markets are located"

 

 

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• "this money could be used to help struggle against inequalities, to promote education and public health in poor countries, and for food security and sustainable development"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "it would restore maneuvering room to citizens and national governments"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "and, most of all, would mean that political, rather than financial considerations are returning to the fore"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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we have the following goals:

• "to hamper international speculation"

 

 

 

 

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• "to tax income on capital"

 

 

 

 

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• "to penalize tax havens"

 

 

 

 

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• "to promote transparency in investments in dependant countries"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "and to establish a legal framework for banking and financial operations"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "in order not to penalize further consumers and citizens"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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more generally, the goals are:

• "to reconquer space lost by democracy to the sphere of finance"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "to oppose any new abandonment of national sovereignty on the pretext of the "rights" of investors and merchants"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "and to create a democratic space at the global level"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "it is simply a question of taking back, together"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the future of our world"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

close down the Casino Economy ! - ATTAC: LINK ¤  - ATTAC

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• ""at present, the wealthy of the world are in the middle of a crisis, which is the heaviest since the Great Depression in 1929"

 

 

 

 

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• "this crisis has a systematic character:"

 

 

 

 

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• "the structure and the mechanisms of that system themselves are now being questioned"

 

 

 

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• "the neoliberal globalization and the fictitious idea of self-regulating markets is failing"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the answer to this crisis shouldn't be restricted to moralizing capitalism or at naming the guilty among the major players of the financial market"

 

 

 

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• "to put an end to the influence that the financial economy has on society"

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTAC demands:

• "a refusal to the socialization of the losses and to the privatization of the profits"

 

 

 

 

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• "speculators pays principles"

 

 

 

 

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• "strengthening of a public and cooperative banking sector"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "a revision of the international monetary and financial system within a global reform by the United Nations"

 

 

 

 

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• "taxations of all kinds of financial transfers including currency transactions"

 

 

 

 

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• "a progressive taxation of capital income"

 

 

 

 

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• "and to close down tax heavens"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "to put an end to all destabilising and unsustainable instruments of the financial system"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7 Principles for Europe - ATTAC: LINK ¤  - ATTAC

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• "since 2007, a global crisis is shaking the world’s economy and the EU is at the center of it"

 

 

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• "its economic policies are exacerbating the social, economic and ecological crisis, putting democracy at danger"

 

 

 

 

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• "the Troika (the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF) and the governments of the EU are tearing apart social welfare and imposing destructive austerity measures, making people pay for debts for which they are not responsible"

 

 

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• "the urgency now is to break free from domination by financial markets and promote a coordinated set of progressive economic, monetary, social and ecological policies"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "take public finance away from financial markets"

 

 

 

 

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• "allow democratic public financing, through a democratically controlled central bank lending directly to governments"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "escape from the debt trap"

 

 

 

 

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• "end austerity policies and set up debt audits leading to debt cancellations. Banks and private financial actors need to take their share of losses"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "give state finances a sustainable basis"

 

 

 

 

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• "increase the taxation of wealth and corporate profits and harmonize taxes at high levels to eradicate fiscal dumping"

 

 

 

 

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• "end tax evasion and implement a "financial embargo" of tax havens"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "forbid harmful speculative mechanisms"

 

 

 

 

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• "e.g. high-frequency trading, naked short selling, speculation on derivatives, over-the-counter agreements"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "impose a tax on all financial transactions at a rate of at least 0.1%"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "strictly regulate banks"

 

 

 

 

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• "e.g. separate deposit and investment banks, dismantle "too big to fail" banks"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "allow public and democratic financing of the economy:"

 

 

 

 

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• "build up a public and cooperative banking sector under democratic control, to ensure the financing of social and economics needs, guarantee social rights and finance ecological transition"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "trade policies should be revised to adhere to these objectives, in cooperation with developing countries"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "Europe for the people, not for profits"

 

 

 

 

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• "promote economic and social policies on a European level, and reinstate and expand democratically controlled public services"

 

 

 

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• "to reduce imbalances, promote the ecological transition of economies, foster high quality employment, promote gender equality"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "and expand basic social and economic rights (health, education, housing, information, culture, social welfare)"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "real democracy now"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "engage in a constituent process aimed at democratizing decision-making at all levels"

 

 

 

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• "elaborate democratically a new Treaty ratified by referendum in all countries"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "and support and promote a public, transparent and accountable debate about visions for Europe and about alternative EU policies"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Financial Transaction Tax moving forward - ATTAC: LINK ¤  - ATTAC

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• "the European ATTAC Network welcomes the decision of the ECOFIN of approving the Financial Transaction Tax"

 

 

 

 

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• "moving forward under the "Enhanced Cooperation Procedure" involving 11 Member States of the European Union"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "as the initial promoter of this tax the ATTAC movement considers this decision as a victory, because it results from a more than 10 years long campaign for it"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "fifteen years ago the international organization ATTAC began its campaing to have this global tax over the finance implemented"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "which should not only pursue revenue, but also be part of a new global tax system for financing global common goods"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "acting as a regulatory, distributive and penalizing tool against financial speculation"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "we proved that alternative policies are possible, by proposing a measure which, at the time it was proposed, was generally considered as impossible to impose"

 

 

 

 

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• "and by showing that, with the determined efforts of citizens, it can be imposed on governments"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "alternatives are possible"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "negotiations will start after this decision but plans to set a tax rate of 0.1% on transactions in stocks and bonds are positive"

 

 

 

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• "it is worth pointing out the planned inclusion of all products and financial actors, including hedge funds, are included and that the tax will be charged in the country where the transfers take place"

 

 

 

 

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• "but its application does not include currency transactions, leaving without taxation a highly speculative and extremely volatile market that moves 4 trillion euros a day"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "further measures are needed to serve the purpose of rebalancing and redefining transfers within economic zones in Europe"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "even if a large amount of resources could be secured via the FTT"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "moreover other measures will be needed to eradicate the current economic, social and political crisis"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "including the complete eradication of tax havens"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "and a global reform of the tax systems tending"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "towards taxing income from capital at an equal or higher level than income from labour work"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fair Trade instead of free Trade - ATTAC Austria: LINK ¤  - ATTAC

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• "on an international level ATTAC works as a network of independent and autonomous national Chapters"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "so there's nothing like an international ATTAC headquarter"

 

 

 

 

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• "of course we are constantly in contact and share our strategies and expertises and coordinate our international campaigns on an international level"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "ATTAC Austria has about 6.000 members. They organize in almost 30 activist groups all over the country"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTAC demands:

• "stabilisation of financial markets"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "98.5% of the revenue generated on financial markets results from deals made with speculative intentions"

 

 

 

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• "often these are short term transactions which make the financial markets more prone to crises"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "capital flows have to be slowed down and the financial system has to be stabilised"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "concrete instruments to achieve that: the financial tax, capital account restrictions, cooperation of reserve banks"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "a fair tax system"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "tax havens and the competition for international capital cause dramatic drops in tax returns"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "assets, profits and capital incomes have to return to making a fair contribution to the funding of public services"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "tax havens should be shut down and corporate taxation needs to be standardised"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "for now crucial decisions regarding the global economy are taken behind closed doors"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the three international institutions of the global economy - World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank and International Monetary Fund"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "have to be democratised and integrated into UN organisations"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "fair trade instead of free trade"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the World Trade Organisation pushes for the liberalisation of trade, no matter what the consequences for the people are"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the degree of each country’s openness has to be based upon sustainable development, social security, gender equality and cultural diversity"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "regulations for enterprises"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "under the pretext of legal protection of "intellectual property" international enterprises aim at monopolisation and play off states against against each other in the competition for international capital"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "in their cross-border activities multinational enterprises have to comply"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "with globally enforceable ecological, social, fiscal and working standards"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "terminating competition for international capital"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "it is necessary to put an end to the global competition for international capital"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "by means of high and harmonised ecological and social standards"

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "in this the EU should have a ground-breaking role"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• "debt relief"

 

 

 

 

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• "as of 1984 more money flows from the countries of the South into the ones of the North than vice versa"

 

 

 

 

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• "many countries spend more on paying interest than on public education, health or nutrition"

 

 

 

 

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• "poor countries must be freed of debts and have to be protected from new over-indebtedness by international insolvency law and by integrating the population in the lending process"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "stop privatisation of public service providers"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "the consequences of privatisation of social security and public infrastructure are a rise in water prices by 50% and the collapse of the railway system in the UK"

 

 

 

 

 

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• "unaffordable costs for "at-risk groups" such as the elderly and the sick as a result of private health insurance"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "public services such as health, education and water supply must not be profit driven"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• "we call for democratisation instead of privatisation of public services providers"