SAME OLD STUFF – AT 8:01 P.M. ET:  Bad ideas never die, and they don't even fade away.  They come back at "international conferences."   From Fox:

As President Obama huddles with world leaders for the G-20 summit in South Korea to weigh proposals aimed at stabilizing the global economy, one idea being pushed is a so-called "Robin Hood tax," aimed at collecting money from rich nations to give to the poor.

The Robin Hood tax -- a global financial transaction fee that could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay the cost of the global financial crisis and support developing nations struggling to recover -- is not popular.

While Britain, France and Germany have championed a bank tax for all G-20 nations, finance chiefs from the industrialized nations shot down the idea at a previous summit held in Toronto last summer.

Still, the tax's supporters, which include unions, environmental groups, Comic Relief, UNICEF and others in a multinational coalition, say the tax could go to canceling debt from poor nations. Or it could be used for social programs to fight hunger, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria or other causes, programs to which the United States and other nations already donate billions.

COMMENT:  Now, where do we begin?  Once again we're being told of the plight of "developing" nations.

Question:  How long does it take a nation to develop?  Some of these nations have been free of colonialism for 60 years, with little to show for it.  Some, like South Africa, are a complete disgrace, overridden by crime and corruption, while their "moral" leaders, like the vile Desmond Tutu, lecture the rest of the world. 

I've spoken to people who work in Africa who relate how you often have to pay a bribe to save a human life. 

And yet, we're gold to give more, more, more.  It reminds me of the domestic racket called "investment in education."  You know, we must "invest" in education.  Question:  Isn't that what we've been doing the last half century, or more? 

Before one dime is given to "developing" nations, we should demand a full accounting, with oversight bodies involved, of how our money is being spent, and why some societies, like India, are emerging, while others are not.  Some chance under this administration.

November 10, 2010