| The tax itself has been tacitly disavowed by its originator, Professor James Tobin. First of all, he
doesn't think it will be implemented: "Having a tax of this kind adopted depends on international agreement,"
he says. "And since the US is dead against it, it is not going to happen." He himself has always stressed that
the idea of the tax is not be to block international capital flows, or to raise resources for fighting poverty, but
to stabilise currency markets by inhibiting short-term speculation, allowing countries to pursue more
independent economic policies. |