Call it "Black Humor", but I am chuckling over this latest and largest
exposure of the misdeeds of our beloved Ruling Class and their
Mafia-type cronies.
Just think of these kindly, caring people, putting our hard earned
dollars in secure, off-shore safety vaults.
Or, think of those smooth politicians who preach to us about our
obligations, our duties to our nations, and the caring of the down
trodden.
Well, just add the Panama Papers, to the list of Priests diddling
little alter boys, conservative Christian politicians screwing their
secretaries, and Nobel Peace Prizes being awarded to the leader of
histories most murderous of nations. Well, maybe it will take much
more than a revolution to take care of the world's problems.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/4/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Eggs Fly in Iceland as Panama Papers Spark Populist Anger in the Streets
Published on
Monday, April 04, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Eggs Fly in Iceland as Panama Papers Spark Populist Anger in the Streets
Capitalism could face crisis of credibility as leaked documents illuminate
global rules rigged for the rich and powerful
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
A view from inside the Parliament building in Reykjavik, Iceland on Monday,
where demonstrators threw eggs and other objects in protest of revelations
contained in the so-called 'Panama Papers' about Prime Minister Sigmundur
Davíð Gunnlaugsson. (Photo: Ásta Helgadóttir /@asta_fish/Twitter)
Foretelling the kind of public backlash other ultra-rich tax dodgers can
expect following the weekend release of the so-called Panama Papers, tens
of
thousands of Icelanders rallied in Reykjavik on Monday demanding the
resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.
Gunnlaugsson is just one of the officials facing reprisal after a massive
leak of 11.5 million documents from the global law firm Mossack Fonseca
revealed a rigged system of elites who use shell companies in offshore tax
havens to stash untold fortunes.
And as an estimated 22,000 Icelanders slung eggs and protested outside the
Parliament building, observers wondered who would be exposed next and what
the total impact might be against the corrupt global system that appears to
have been built to specifically benefit the one percent.
"What really matters is the architecture of wealth extraction that has been
systematically built up in every country around the world [in order to]
hoard as much wealth as possible in the hands of a tiny elite."
—Joe Brewer, The Rules
Rana Foroohar, assistant managing editor of economics and business at TIME
magazine, argued Monday that the corruption exposed in the Panama Papers
will likely build on the mounting populist frustration—captured by the
Occupy Wall Street movement, global anti-austerity protests, and the 2016
U.S. presidential election—and could potentially "lead to capitalism's
great
crisis."
Foroohar writes:
The Panama Papers illuminate a key aspect of why the system isn’t
working–because globalization has allowed the capital and assets of the 1 %
(be they individuals or corporations) to travel freely, while those of the
99 % cannot. Globalization is supposed to be about the free movement of
people, goods, and capital. But in fact, the system is set up to enable
that
mobility mainly for the rich (or for large corporations). The result is
global tax evasion, the offshoring of labor, and an elite that flies 35,000
feet over the problems of nation states and the tax payers within them.
Where do we go from here? I think we’re heading towards a root to branch
re-evaluation of how our market system works–and doesn’t work. The debate
over free trade is part of that re-evaluation. The calls for a global
campaign against tax evasion are, too. I think there will also be intense
scrutiny about the ease with which financial capital can move around the
world—we’ve already seen that with the hoopla over tax inversions, but
we’ll
see a lot more backlash, in new areas.
Similarly, Vox's Matthew Yglesias points out that the Panama Papers tap
into
the same economic critique as the Bernie Sanders campaign. "Deliberate
choices," writes Yglesias, regarding trade, tax policies, and global
economic integration, "are made that advantage some and disadvantage
others;
working-class residents of rich countries generally get the short end of
the
stick, not because of choices that help the global poor but because of
deliberate efforts to safeguard the interests of the global financial
elite."
Indeed, one day after the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium
of
Investigative Journalists began reporting on the leak, a few key villains
have emerged, including: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President
Bashir Assad, Argentine soccer star Leo Messi, Ian Cameron (father of
current British Prime Minister David Cameron), and Alaa Mubarak, son of
ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
In a column published at The Rules on Monday, Joe Brewer warns against
reading the Panama Papers as "a few bad apples using legal financial
instruments." Instead, Brewer argues that such financial manipulations date
back to the era of colonialism and slavery, which "gave certain Western
nations a huge amount of wealth that has since been used to rig global
institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in a
manner that keeps this historic trend going strong."
"This leak is a blueprint for how the most vulnerable people in the world
are harmed by financial secrecy."
—Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA
"What really matters is the architecture of wealth extraction that has been
systematically built up in every country around the world," Brewer says,
the
purpose of which "was to hoard as much wealth as possible in the hands of a
tiny elite."
And given that the global system of corruption was largely "architected" by
Western corporations and elites, observers are suspicious about what they
describe as "selective reporting" on the part of Western media companies,
which admittedly filtered the leak by searching certain names associated
with breaking UN sanctions regimes.
"The filtering of this Mossack Fonseca information by the corporate media
follows a direct western governmental agenda," charged Craig Murray, author
and human rights activist who formerly served as the British Ambassador to
Uzbekistan. "There is no mention at all of use of Mossack Fonseca by
massive
Western corporations or Western billionaires—the main customers."
Responding to such concerns, Stefan Plöchinger, editor of Süddeutsche
Zeitung, wrote on Twitter: "Just wait for what is coming next."
And while many are waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop, the CBC
has already announced it will not release the names of the 450 Canadians
exposed in the offshore leak, dismissing the group—which reportedly
includes
"lawyers, mining and oil executives, business people, and even known
fraudsters"— because none of them were deemed "prominent personalities."
Amid the scandal, groups are calling on the U.S. government to take action
to stem the tax evasion and corruption now laid bare.
"The Panama Papers is the biggest leak we've ever seen on how global
corruption and tax evasion is facilitated," said Eric LeCompte, executive
director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. "This leak is a
blueprint for how the most vulnerable people in the world are harmed by
financial secrecy."
Jubilee is asking Congress to pass the recently-introduced Incorporation
Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (HR 4450, S 2489), which
would make it more difficult for parties to set up offshore shell
companies,
which have a record of fueling "corruption, poverty, human trafficking, and
armed conflict."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
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Eggs Fly in Iceland as Panama Papers Spark Populist Anger in the Streets
Published on
Monday, April 04, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Eggs Fly in Iceland as Panama Papers Spark Populist Anger in the Streets
Capitalism could face crisis of credibility as leaked documents illuminate
global rules rigged for the rich and powerful
by
Lauren McCauley, staff writer
• 6 Comments
•
• A view from inside the Parliament building in Reykjavik, Iceland on
Monday, where demonstrators threw eggs and other objects in protest of
revelations contained in the so-called 'Panama Papers' about Prime Minister
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. (Photo: Ásta Helgadóttir /@asta_fish/Twitter)
• Foretelling the kind of public backlash other ultra-rich tax dodgers
can expect following the weekend release of the so-called Panama Papers,
tens of thousands of Icelanders rallied in Reykjavik on Monday demanding
the
resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.
• Gunnlaugsson is just one of the officials facing reprisal after a
massive leak of 11.5 million documents from the global law firm Mossack
Fonseca revealed a rigged system of elites who use shell companies in
offshore tax havens to stash untold fortunes.
• And as an estimated 22,000 Icelanders slung eggs and protested
outside the Parliament building, observers wondered who would be exposed
next and what the total impact might be against the corrupt global system
that appears to have been built to specifically benefit the one percent.
• "What really matters is the architecture of wealth extraction that
has been systematically built up in every country around the world [in
order
to] hoard as much wealth as possible in the hands of a tiny elite."
—Joe Brewer, The Rules
Rana Foroohar, assistant managing editor of economics and business at TIME
magazine, argued Monday that the corruption exposed in the Panama Papers
will likely build on the mounting populist frustration—captured by the
Occupy Wall Street movement, global anti-austerity protests, and the 2016
U.S. presidential election—and could potentially "lead to capitalism's
great
crisis."
Foroohar writes:
The Panama Papers illuminate a key aspect of why the system isn’t
working–because globalization has allowed the capital and assets of the 1 %
(be they individuals or corporations) to travel freely, while those of the
99 % cannot. Globalization is supposed to be about the free movement of
people, goods, and capital. But in fact, the system is set up to enable
that
mobility mainly for the rich (or for large corporations). The result is
global tax evasion, the offshoring of labor, and an elite that flies 35,000
feet over the problems of nation states and the tax payers within them.
Where do we go from here? I think we’re heading towards a root to branch
re-evaluation of how our market system works–and doesn’t work. The debate
over free trade is part of that re-evaluation. The calls for a global
campaign against tax evasion are, too. I think there will also be intense
scrutiny about the ease with which financial capital can move around the
world—we’ve already seen that with the hoopla over tax inversions, but
we’ll
see a lot more backlash, in new areas.
Similarly, Vox's Matthew Yglesias points out that the Panama Papers tap
into
the same economic critique as the Bernie Sanders campaign. "Deliberate
choices," writes Yglesias, regarding trade, tax policies, and global
economic integration, "are made that advantage some and disadvantage
others;
working-class residents of rich countries generally get the short end of
the
stick, not because of choices that help the global poor but because of
deliberate efforts to safeguard the interests of the global financial
elite."
Indeed, one day after the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium
of
Investigative Journalists began reporting on the leak, a few key villains
have emerged, including: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President
Bashir Assad, Argentine soccer star Leo Messi, Ian Cameron (father of
current British Prime Minister David Cameron), and Alaa Mubarak, son of
ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
In a column published at The Rules on Monday, Joe Brewer warns against
reading the Panama Papers as "a few bad apples using legal financial
instruments." Instead, Brewer argues that such financial manipulations date
back to the era of colonialism and slavery, which "gave certain Western
nations a huge amount of wealth that has since been used to rig global
institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in a
manner that keeps this historic trend going strong."
"This leak is a blueprint for how the most vulnerable people in the world
are harmed by financial secrecy."
—Eric LeCompte, Jubilee USA
"What really matters is the architecture of wealth extraction that has been
systematically built up in every country around the world," Brewer says,
the
purpose of which "was to hoard as much wealth as possible in the hands of a
tiny elite."
And given that the global system of corruption was largely "architected" by
Western corporations and elites, observers are suspicious about what they
describe as "selective reporting" on the part of Western media companies,
which admittedly filtered the leak by searching certain names associated
with breaking UN sanctions regimes.
"The filtering of this Mossack Fonseca information by the corporate media
follows a direct western governmental agenda," charged Craig Murray, author
and human rights activist who formerly served as the British Ambassador to
Uzbekistan. "There is no mention at all of use of Mossack Fonseca by
massive
Western corporations or Western billionaires—the main customers."
Responding to such concerns, Stefan Plöchinger, editor of Süddeutsche
Zeitung, wrote on Twitter: "Just wait for what is coming next."
And while many are waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop, the CBC
has already announced it will not release the names of the 450 Canadians
exposed in the offshore leak, dismissing the group—which reportedly
includes
"lawyers, mining and oil executives, business people, and even known
fraudsters"— because none of them were deemed "prominent personalities."
Amid the scandal, groups are calling on the U.S. government to take action
to stem the tax evasion and corruption now laid bare.
"The Panama Papers is the biggest leak we've ever seen on how global
corruption and tax evasion is facilitated," said Eric LeCompte, executive
director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. "This leak is a
blueprint for how the most vulnerable people in the world are harmed by
financial secrecy."
Jubilee is asking Congress to pass the recently-introduced Incorporation
Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (HR 4450, S 2489), which
would make it more difficult for parties to set up offshore shell
companies,
which have a record of fueling "corruption, poverty, human trafficking, and
armed conflict."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
