How Delish!! Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/03/offshore-secrets-offshore-tax-haven
<snip>
Millions of internal records have leaked from Britain's offshore financial industry, exposing for the first time the identities of thousands of holders of anonymous wealth from around the world, from presidents to plutocrats, the daughter of a notorious dictator and a British millionaire accused of concealing assets from his ex-wife.

The leak of 2m emails and other documents, mainly from the offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has the potential to cause a seismic shock worldwide to the booming offshore trade, with a former chief economist at McKinsey estimating that wealthy individuals may have as much as $32tn (£21tn) stashed in overseas havens.

The names have been unearthed in a novel project by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ], in collaboration with the Guardian and other international media, who are jointly publishing their research results this week.

The naming project may be extremely damaging for confidence among the world's wealthiest people, no longer certain that the size of their fortunes remains hidden from governments and from their neighbours.
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Bwaaaaaaaaaaah hahahahah this is tooooooooooooo good!!!!!

[LisaLynne]

1. Wow!

When it's just "oh we know the rich do this" in an anonymous sense it's one thing. Knowing exactly who and how much is a different thing entirely.

I'm with you on the BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHAAAA!!!

[malaise]

2. My favorite part of the article

The leak of 2m emails and other documents, mainly from the offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has the potential to cause a seismic shock worldwide to the booming offshore trade, with a former chief economist at McKinsey estimating that wealthy individuals may have as much as $32tn (£21tn) stashed in overseas havens.

Can't wait for all the names - hope we get them today

[LisaLynne]

3. Yes!

That would be a nice way to end the work week!

[malaise]

4. It is unacceptable that a large part of the world economy is passing through tax havens

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2013/apr/05/change-tax-systems-poor-countries-oecd
<snip>
The global tax structure must change as it is unacceptable that a large part of the world economy is passing through tax havens, a senior official from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said on Friday.

But Erik Solheim, chair of the OECD's development assistance committee – the club of rich aid donor countries – told the Guardian that the world cannot wait for wholesale changes and needs to act now, particularly to ensure that developing countries receive their fair share of taxes from multinational companies.

Solheim spoke amid the latest revelations on offshore tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands.

At a time when official development assistance from rich countries is dropping – it fell for the second successive year in 2012 – the buzz phrase in development circles is domestic resource mobilisation, or tax, not only from foreign companies but from domestic elites too, Pakistan being a case in point. UK MPs this week said Pakistan needs to recoup more in taxes before it receives any aid boost. Solhim said there are efforts to improve tax collection in developing countries, but they need to be scaled up.
------------------------
Western government terrorize developing countries when they attempt to tax their own resources (e.g. the 15% bauxite levy in Jamaica or oil in Venezuela) and allow the corporations to hide the money. A hell of a shit storm is coming. As we say in these parts - story is finally coming to bump.

Name all the names

[redqueen]

6. "story is finally coming to bump"

Interesting turn of phrase. Let's hope it is so.

[malaise]

8. LOL

We'd better hope - right now the corporations appear to own a good part of the governments of the world. Can you believe that they are hiding $32trillion dollars off shore when people are living in abject poverty and any notion of the social good is being destroyed.

[redqueen]

10. Yep, I surely can.

Greed is good, there will always be the poor, etc.

Capitalism has become a monster. It's always been a monster, but now instead of individual vampires, its fucking cthulu.

[redqueen]

5. Just seize it. nt

[sakabatou]

7. +1

[malaise]

9. Interesting that the OECD has responded but not a word

from the IMF or World Bank. The silence of individual governments is frightening

[redqueen]

11. As the man said...

"The real truth of the matter is,as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson."

[malaise]

13. And that's the effin'

TRUTH

[Rex]

12. Fucking rich greedy pigs, may they all rot in hell.

They make the world SUCK.

[malaise]

14. Don't forget their enablers -

the political class

[Rex]

15. I think a lot of them are from the political class.

They go from cabinet position to CEO, back to a cabinet position.

[malaise]

16. Absolutely

They violate the rights and privacy of their citizens while they hide their assets across the globe.
Technology and the younger generations ability to use it for good will be their undoing