Why Does No One Speak of America’s Oligarchs?

[marmar]

from Naked Capitalism:


Why Does No One Speak of America’s Oligarchs?


One of the striking elements of the demonization of Cyprus was how it was depicted as a willing tool of Russian money launderers and oligarchs. Never mind the fact, as we pointed out, that Cyprus is not a tax haven but a low-tax jurisdiction, and in stark contrast with the Caymans and Malta, has double-taxation treaties signed with 46 nations and has (now more likely had) with six more being ratified. Nor is it much of a tax secrecy jurisdiction, according to the Financial Secrecy Index. Confusingly, in the overall ranking, lower numbers are worse (Switzerland as number 1 is the baaadest) but in the secrecy score used to derive the rankings, higher is worse, with 100 being utterly opaque. The total rank is a function of “badness” (secrecy score) and weight (amount of business done). You’ll notice that all the countries ranked as worse than Cyprus have secrecy scores more unfavorable than it, with the exception of Germany, which is a mere 1 point out of 100 less bad, and the UK, which scores considerably lower (Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands, would take issue with that reading, but he takes a more inclusive view of the boundaries of a financial services industry. For the UK, thus he not only includes the “state within a state” of the City of London, but also the UK’s secrecy jurisdictions, such as the Isle of Man, in his dim view of the UK as well as the US on secrecy). And even so, its greater volume of hidden activity gives it a much worse overall ranking. Of countries 21 tp 30, only 3 rank as less bad on secrecy: Canada, India, and South Korea.



And as far as how many oligarchs have deposits there, even the New York Times, in a story framed around a lawyer who sets up shell companies for Russian investors, mentions in passing at the end:

Any dirty money flowing through Cyprus, however, is dwarfed by funds generated by legitimate businesses looking for easy and legal ways to avoid taxes. There are so many Russian companies registered in Cyprus for tax reasons that the tiny country now ranks as Russia’s biggest source of direct foreign investment, most of it from Russian nationals through vehicles registered in Cyprus.

And the oligarchs with meaningful involvement in Cyprus? The New York Times did find one, but he seems to be the exception rather than the rule. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/03/why-does-no-one-speak-of-americas-oligarchs.html#xelrDVXVPZJfhIZz.99

[xchrom]

1. why indeed. we talk about russia's. nt

[Newest Reality]

2. The big

Oz Head tells us explicitly to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

We have had over thirty-years of flat wages, low to no taxation on multi-national corporations and wealthy individuals and families, etc. There is a permanent funnel sucking wealth to the top and it is a self-serving cycle that may destroy itself, but takes us along with it.

With the kind of power and wealth being amassed, who in their right mind thinks that all the media and political rhetoric and claptrap is much more than a means to simulate and manipulate a conglomerate version of a superstitious reality that serves to create complacency, self-doubt and soften the blow of systemic injustice?

Shhhh!

[LiberalLoner]

4. Great post!

Spot on, brilliant!

[Newest Reality]

6. Thank you for

commenting.

That's very encouraging and I'm glad you resonate with that perspective.

[go west young man]

11. You have layed it out perfectly.

One big ruse to keep the masses complacent and the money flowing to those at the top.

[woo me with science]

18. Nice post. nt

[HughBeaumont]

3. America's Oligarchs own the Fourth Estate. All of it.

Even when they weren't in such omnipotent control, even when journalism was objective, it's not like they were taken to task much then either.

It's probably because we keep this fantasy hope alive that "YOU TOO CAN BE RICH SOMEDAY".

[valerief]

9. Boom! Right answer. nt

[xtraxritical]

10. Randolph Hearst tried it too.

[Enoki33]

14. Corporate journalists

I recall an obscure interview of a journalist,who after spending three years in Russia working for a magazine returned to work here in the US, saying he was amazed, shocked and frightened by the similarity with the Moscow structure he had found here. He was not only referring to what was allowed to be reported in the major corporate owned media, but the political power wielded by this select few because of the millions of dollars they are able to spend to extend their interests. This was before the Supreme Court further legalized political bribery.

[PETRUS]

5. "No one looks too hard at the fact many of our billionaires started out with a leg up"

"parlaying a moderate family fortune (for instance, in the case of Donald Trump) into a bigger one, or having one’s success depend on other forms of family help (Bill Gates’ mother having the connection to an IBM executive that enabled Gates to license MS-DOS to them)."

<snip>

"...what about the celebrated John Paulson, who became a billionaire by not simply betting agains the housing market, but as we described in ECONNED, using CDOs that had the effect of pumping the bubble up bigger? Or the principals of Magnetar, whose CDO strategy played an even more direct role in extending the toxic phase of subprime lending beyond its sell by date? How about the Walton family, whose company is a welfare queen, with employees who depend on Medicare and emergency rooms for health care?"

----

Thanks for posting, marmar!

[Ian_rd]

7. We do. We just call them "job creators."

Therein is the difference. George Orwell new well that to simply tweak the language of a culture is a way to also tweak how people think. If we call them "oligarchs," we'll think of them simply as powerful people looking out for their own interest. If we call them "job creators," we think of them more like benevolent demi-gods to be praised and to whom offerings should be made. Even though they're the exact same people.

[Smilo]

13. +100

So true.

[woo me with science]

8. K&R

[Coyotl]

12. Not to mention the Cocaine Lords!

When was the last time you heard about who imports all that cocaine in the USA. Drug lords only exist in other countries, right? LOL!

[Cal Carpenter]

15. To keep up the illusion of political democracy

which, of course, is nonexistent when economics is so thoroughly undemocratic.

[woo me with science]

17. This is the correct answer.

[woo me with science]

16. kick