Why the Panama Papers Could Catapult Bernie Sanders to the White House

[FreakinDJ]

The Panama Papers may be the defining story of the 2016 Democratic Primary. And Bernie Sanders is on the right side of history.

The 11.5 million documents, which came from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca and were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), expose how the upper end of the 1 percent utilizes shell companies and gray areas in tax law to stash untold billions of dollars in overseas tax-free accounts. The leak was so massive, it took an army of 400 journalists working for an entire year to sift through the documents. At least 140 world leaders from 50 different countries were implicated in the leaks.

Bernie Sanders saw this coming from a mile away. On October 12, 2011, Sen. Sanders took the Senate floor to denounce the Panama trade pact, shooting down the conventional arguments in favor of the deal.

“Panama’s entire economic output is only $26.7 billion per year, or about two-tenths of one percent of the US economy,” Sanders said at the beginning of his speech. “No one can legitimately claim that approving this free trade agreement will significantly increase American jobs.”



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“Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade US taxes by stashing their cash in offshore tax havens. The Panama free trade agreement will make this bad situation much worse. Each and every year, the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations evade about $100 billion in taxes through abusive and illegal offshore tax havens in Panama and in other countries.”


http://usuncut.com/politics/panama-papers-bernie-sanders-white-house/

[Bonobo]

1. This was undoubtedly known by many. Only Bernie is ethical enough to bring it up. We need him.

But do we deserve him?

It is a chicken and egg situation. If we can elect him, we deserve him.

If we cannot, we do not deserve him.

My disappointment with some of my fellow DU'ers is profound.

[ReasonableToo]

5. My thoughts exactly

He's the candidate we need - not the candidate we deserve.

It's like he's giving us one last shot to redeem ourselves. I think if we elect anyone else, we've blown it. Good on us for electing candidate Obama but if we don't see that candidate Clinton will shift faster and further to right than pres Obama did then we deserve all the heartache we get.

It's a shame we lost the 4th estate. Truth and facts would have been nice these last few months.

[Chasstev365]

2. Wonder if the Clintons are on the list?

Some around here would still rationalize it!

[FreakinDJ]

15. Clinton Foundation possibly

[pdsimdars]

18. Someone said that they'll be releasing the list from America next.

[Trust Buster]

3. Tax havens for the wealthy has not been a big secret. It will have no effect on the election IMO.

[TrueDemVA]

4. The Clintons may not be on the list, but

What may hurt is her desire to push for this deal knowing it was only a deal to help the rich get richer and avoid taxes. Taxes that help educate our children, provide care for or poor and seniors, etc. But what do the Clinton's care, that got theirs.

[Yurovsky]

7. And that sums it up...

not only for the Clintons, but for many of their supporters from Wall Street to the most posh addresses in major cities across the U.S.

THEY GOT THEIRS.

And they intend to keep it. The riff-raff, great unwashed commoners/peasantry need to know their place. The DNC machinery was rigged from the get go. When Bernie wins Wisconsin, that will be 6 of the last 7 states she's lost, but it doesn't matter. The 1% has no intention of allowing the 99% to raise their voice against their "betters".

The not hope we have is to make our voices heard loud and clear at the convention. Bernie will continue to win, and if Hillary and her ilk try to deny voters their franchise, we need to put a stop to it. Goldman Sachs should not be allowed to pick the next President.

[monmouth4]

6. FWIW, I saw Jackie Chan's name on it...LOL..n/t

[enough]

8. I think people are already used to the idea that the rich hide money and don't pay taxes.

It would be great if this new leak could have an effect, but the idea that nothing can or will ever significantly change in the U.S. is strong and getting stronger. Mrs. Clinton is one of the strongest purveyors of this idea.

[CalvinballPro]

9. Hail Mary #419

Going to fail, just like all the ones before it.

[rachacha]

10. Don't worry, Brock will have your talking points soon enough

Bernie probably once shook hands with a human rights worker from Panama so that makes him as culpable as Hillary, or something like that. Be patient and keep hitting reload on bluenationreview, this kind of research takes time.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

11. Only if it's presented in a way that makes sense, and informs ...

... the average voter.

On mainstream news, the big story is that Putin has a lot of money hidden away. Interesting, but not likely to affect American politics.

What part of the story will affect voters? Will Clinton voters be swayed to vote for Sanders because of this? Will Trump or Cruz voters be swayed to vote "D" in the general because of this?

I guess I'm predicting "zero to little impact" on the voting.

[Tarc]

12. This is more of a fizzling bag of pop rocks than an actual bombshell

This issue appeals to Sanders' single-issue BIG BANKS ARE YUUUUGE (though he actually has no idea how to deal with it) fans, not to the general public.

Sorry Sanders fans, back to crossing your fingers for a 58-60 sweep of every remaining state.

[carburyme]

13. Another One!

Everyday there's something anti-Hillary breaking news that will catapult Sanders to the Whitehouse. Today is nothing new.

[Myrina]

14. Undoubtedly, if the average voter could wrap their heads around it.

I've always found when issues involving international banking / money laundering / dirty deeds come up, the average voter's eyes glaze over because most of us can barely understand all the complexities of our own banking and tax laws ... something like this is too nebulous, too far away.

If it were something like "Enron stole your pension money so now you have to work at WalMart until you're 85" - they get that. But this .... this is 'rich and powerful assholes being rich and powerful assholes' with no absolute direct connection to Joe and Jill Sixpack's daily life (as they see it).

[amborin]

16. Bernie opposed this and warned about it

[Fumesucker]

17. Iceland's PM just resigned over the revelations released so far

A tiny fraction of what is still yet to be revealed to the public.

[FailureToCommunicate]

19. Iceland always seem one step ahead on the 'DO the Right Thing' scales