A Question To Tax Any Politician's Logic

For some time now the public has been witness to the spectacle of Brown/Darling and Cameron/Osborne (plus their respective cannon-fodder) trading insults over who best can rectify Britain's deficit, who can best cut costs and taxes, who's 'magic wand' will solve our problems the quickest. Part of their 'plans' depend, of course, on who has the power to raise and/or lower tax rates, ie who controls our country's finances.

Like all unruly children, none of them appear to be paying attention to the Head Prefect. From Open Europe's press summary today we learn:

"European Voice reports that the new European Commissioner for Taxation, Algirdas Šemeta, is planning to propose a minimum rate of tax on carbon across the whole of the EU. The move, which was considered too controversial by the first Barroso commission, would mean that carbon tax is calculated according to the energy content of certain energy sources such as petrol, coal and natural gas, and the quantity of CO2 they emit. It would be introduced through an amendment to the EU's Energy Taxation Directive, originally adopted in 1992."

We also learn:

"European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has vowed to make full use of new powers under the Lisbon Treaty to push for further economic integration and greater EU oversight over member states economic policy through greater “economic governance in the union...Now we have the Lisbon Treaty, which provides for (economic) policy recommendations and policy warnings. The commission intends to use these powers to the full. The commission will address country-specific (economic) recommendations to member states and warnings in the case of inadequate responses."

And our 'big-three' politicians have the cheek to believe that they control our economic future, that they govern us - and then to beg for our votes?

From Wiki "The term puppet state (also puppet government, marionette government) describes a nominal sovereignty. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette. A puppet state has also been described as an entity which in fact lacks independence, preserves all the external paraphernalia of independence, but in reality is only an organ of another state who has set it up and whose satellite it is, controlled effectively by a foreign power."

The ease with which Brown/Cameron/Clegg stitch us up, one would be forgiven for believing they all had doctorates in knitting!