econnexus™ » Barack Obama

United Nations and Rowan Williams Join the "Robin Hood Tax" Campaign

SoulSurfer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:11:11 +0000

As the G20 leaders start their deliberations in Cannes today some more famous names have been putting their weight behind the campaign to introduce some kind of financial transaction tax. On Tuesday the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, joined Pope Benedict XVI in calling for the introduction of what he referred to in an article in the Financial Times as

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G20 Meet as Obama's Favourite Corzine Flushes a Few More Billion Down the Pan

SoulSurfer — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:26:50 +0000

As we reported last week, the leaders of the G20 nations (plus a few others) are on a jaunt to the Mediterranean seaside in Cannes this week. Amongst other things they are scheduled to discuss the global financial crisis. As luck would have it another item will have added itself to their agenda this morning. According to Yahoo!

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Pope Benedict and Bill Gates play Robin Hood for the G20

SoulSurfer — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:18:18 +0000

The next summit meeting of the leaders of the G20 nations takes place next week in Cannes, and the global financial crisis is top of the agenda. A variety of people from around the world are pressuring the G20 leaders to introduce a "tax on bankers". Such a tax has been discussed over the years under a variety of aliases, including "Tobin Tax" and "Financial Transaction Tax". However here in the UK currently the most popular euphemism for the idea is "Robin Hood Tax". Here's a video in which the team of Richard Curtis and Bill Nighy (of Love Actually fame) present their interpretation of the concept:

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Google Sell PowerMeter to Obama

SoulSurfer — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:01:15 +0000

Yesterday Google and other members of The Climate Group sent an open letter to President Barack Obama urging him to:

Adopt the goal of giving every household and business access to timely, useful and actionable information on their energy use.

Britain and America's "First Geeks"

SoulSurfer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:35:12 +0000

This weeks edition of the Economist contains a long article on the suddenly hot topic of "Open Data". The subhead sums up the issue like this:

In several countries more official data are being issued in raw form so that anybody can use them. This forces bureaucrats and creative types to interact in new ways.

and the article points out that:

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Obama U-Turn on Biofuels?

SoulSurfer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:01:33 +0000

Way back in May 2009 the Guardian reported that:

The Obama administration took on the powerful farming interests in America's heartland today, making clear it does not see corn-based ethanol as part of the long-term solution to climate change.

An Irony of the Financial Crisis – Action on Poverty Looks Utterly Achievable

SoulSurfer — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:42:07 +0000

Just over a week ago I found myself once again on EasyJet flight EZY6167 heading from Bristol to Amsterdam. I asked the head of the cabin crew if he knew Dawn, who operated the camera on one of our previous internet videos. He said he did. I showed him one of our "Water Connects Us" leaflets, and I asked him if it would be OK if I handed some out to his passengers. He said that would be fine as long as I didn't get in the way of the cabin crew as they went about their duties.

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T. Boone Pickens Comments on the War in Georgia

SoulSurfer — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:59:10 +0000

Over the last few days T. Boone Pickens has held meetings with both John McCain and Barack Obama.

Yesterday Mr. Pickens was interviewed by Neil Cavuto of Fox News about those talks. Here's what he had to say:

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Barack Obama – New Energy for America?

SoulSurfer — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:50:05 +0000

Barack Obama gave a speech on Monday in Lansing Michigan, an area very familiar with the decline in the US automobile industry. He took the opportunity to outline his current energy policy, and he started out by laying his cards on the table:

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Al Gore calls for Carbon Free Electricity by 2018

SoulSurfer — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:51:04 +0000

In a speech at Constitution Hall in Washington yesterday former Vice President Al Gore put forward his new vision of how the climate change crisis has deteriorated to the point that:

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