IMF boss Lagarde´s climate change message: US taxpayers should pay more

Christine Lagarde does not pay any taxes  herself,  but  she  thinks  others  should pay much more!

The lady is at it again!


The other day the IMF boss Catherine Lagarde - the world´s best paid female politician, with annual tax free earnings of more than $550,000 - caused international outrage, when she suggested that beleaguered Greeks might do well to pay their taxes.


Now the same Lagarde is demanding tax rises for US and other western taxpayers in order to transfer huge sums of money to "developing countries" (mostly run by corrupt authoritarian governments) in order to fight (bogus) global warming projects: 

Getting the prices right means using fiscal policy to make sure that the harm we do is reflected in the prices we pay. I am thinking about environmental taxes or emissions trading systems under which governments issue—and preferably sell—pollution rights. It is basically a variation of the old mantra: “you break it, you buy it”.

-

... in these difficult budgetary times, countries need revenue and these kinds of tax or tax-like instruments can deliver. In the United States, for example, a carbon tax of about $25 per ton of CO2—which would add 22 cents to a gallon of gasoline—could bring in about 1 percent of GDP, or over $1 trillion over a decade. Charges on international aviation and maritime emissions would raise about a quarter of the $100 billion needed for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries—resources that developed countries have committed to mobilize by 2020.

Lagarde´s speechwriter had added this poetic ending to her speech, which apparently was intended to move the audience at the Washington DC Center for Global Development to tears: 

Once again, Wangari Maathai said it best: “We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own—indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life.”

We all belong to this larger family of life. Rich nations and poor nations. Economists, environmentalists, and social policymakers. Public sector, private sector, civil society, and international organizations. We must all come together and work together.

For in the end, we all share the same goal—to make this small planet we call our home a better place for this generation and for generations to come.

Well, US taxpayers are certainly making it easier for Mme Lagarde to embrace "the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder" by paying almost 20% of her huge wage and benefit package, worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the United States government. (The US share of IMF funding is close to 20%).


The question US taxpayers - and politicians - should ask themselves: Why on earth keep on financing a life in luxury for this French lady, who is reciprocating with demands of higher taxes for ordinary citizens?

Christine Lagarde beats Baroness Ashton as world´s best paid female politician

Only the second best paid

There seems to be no end to the ever growing crisis within the European Union. Here is the latest proof of the serious state of affairs within the EU:

The British Baroness Catherine Ashton (unelected " EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy"), has lost her position as the world´s most highly paid female politician to former French minister of finance, Christine Lagarde, who now heads the IMF. With her annual salary of $550.000 Madame Lagarde easily beats Lady Catherine´s paltry $538,000 annual pay package.


This serious deterioration has not gone unnoticed by the top eurocrats. The EU Commission is now proposing a new long-term EU budget where the share of administration costs is set to rise from 5.7 to 6.1 percent. Surely a modest pay rise for the Baroness is included in that package.


In case the Commission´s proposals are not accepted by the member countries, there is still this hope that the EU bigwigs can cling to:

A French court has ordered an investigation into whether the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, abused her position when she was finance minister in allowing a huge state settlement to a businessman friend of the President, Nicolas Sarkozy.

The best paid

If Mme Lagarde, as a consequence of the investigation, will exit the IMF the same way as her famous also French predecessor DSK, Lady Catherine could still end up retaining her position as the world´s best paid female politician/bureaucrat - even without a pay rise!

Even in a worst case scenario - with no pay rise at all - Baroness Ashton of Upholland can take some comfort in the fact that she still easily beats such ordinary politicians as German chancellor Angela Merkel, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - and even President Barack Obama - in the the pay league.

PS

And we, the European tax payers, are of course extremely grateful for having such illustrious representatives as Lady Catherine and Mme Lagarde as our representatives in places of power, fighting for a bright future
(at least for themselves). We can also take comfort in the fact that there are at least 1000 unelected EU bureaucrats, who earn more than e.g. the U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, all working hard in order to spend our money on projects like this one.

Strauss-Kahn - the $3000 a night suite official

"Life is Magnifique" at the New York Sofitel!

The serious accusations against the IMF´s French chief  Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be dealt with by a court in New York in due time. We will have to wait for the outcome of the proceedings.

However, the arrest of  Strauss-Kahn raises at least one other question:  According to the New York Police spokesman Paul Browne the IMF boss spent the night in a luxurious hotel suite costing $3000 per night.

If a wealthy person chooses to spend the night in luxury, it is of course his or her own choice, which I have no objections to. But when the boss of a taxpayer funded organisation, like the IMF, makes the same choice while travelling on behalf of his organisation, we have a totally different ballgame. What makes Strauss-Kahn´s behaviour even more disgusting is that he has has for years now been forcing crisis countries to accept huge austerity packages, which have dealt hard blows to their already suffering citizens.

And M. Strauss-Kahn´s behaviour is just a tip of the iceberg. The top bureaucrats of all major international organisations - including the European Union - are all enjoying a life in luxury, out of sight of ordinary people, who as taxpayers end up paying for it all. No wonder that these bureaucrats use every opportunity to increase the powers of their organisations - usually they do it by hiding their actual agenda behind lofty, idealistic sounding speeches about the need for more "integration" and "closer cooperation". Most mainsteam media journalists know about this, but they almost never write about it, because they are afraid of  being ostrasized (and thus unable to get any "background" information from the bureaucrats and politicians).

It is time for honest people to start putting an end to this taxpayer funded gravy train and demand journalists and newspapers to do their job!