Touting it as a way to curb financial speculation and funnel Wall Street profits to Main Street businesses, Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill introduced Wednesday a bill to tax trading activity by investment banks and financial firms.
Thousands of protesters some naked except for pointed Robin Hood caps converged Tuesday on the French Riviera, urging the Group of 20 leading economies to focus on spreading global largesse on people instead of saving banks and pleasing financial markets.
In a rare global summit where the U.S. leader is not the center of attention, President Obama leaves Wednesday evening for the Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France, with a diminished international presence and an economic-growth message being drowned out by the scramble to deal with Europe's unresolved debt crisis.
Europe's days-old plan to solve its crippling debt crisis and restore faith in the global economy has been thrown into chaos by the Greek prime minister's stunning decision to call a referendum on the country's latest rescue package.
Setting the tone for his trip to the G-20 summit in France next week, President Obama said Friday the most important thing world leaders can do to boost the global economy is "to get the U.S. economy growing faster."
Hillary Rodham Clinton, secretary of state, in November's Foreign Policy magazine:
The recent roller coaster in the markets reflects more a concern about the health of European banks than the U.S. downgrade by Standard & Poors. It also underscores a fundamental weakness in U.S.-European Union relations — the lack of a platform for discussing economic and financial difficulties across the Atlantic in a way that parallels NATO.
Representatives of the world's leading economies on Sunday urgently discussed the stability of financial markets after a historic U.S. credit downgrade rattled investors already worried about European debt crises.
Allegations of multibillion-dollar fraud at banks and revelations by South Korea's top business conglomerate of shady dealings are forcing the country to grapple anew with a legacy of deep-seated corruption.
