2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Panama Papers, Bernie Sanders, And Why You Should Care: An Overview
4/4/2016
The business dealings of numerous world leaders, politicians, and celebrities are in the spotlight today, accused of hiding fortunes offshore. The information, found in the trove of leaked documents dubbed the Panama Papers, reveals a list of the powerful and wealthy, including drug barons and other individuals who were allegedly connected to a Panama-based law firm, which sells offshore shell companies.
The exposé once again emphasizes the need for financial reform and for government leaders who are responsible.
The unprecedented data leak of 11.5 million records originated from Mossack Fonseca, the worlds fourth largest offshore law firm. An estimated 214,000 offshore entities are connected to the leaked documents, as well as people and governing bodies in more than 200 countries.
The leak also reveals offshore holdings of 12 current and former leaders, including the Saudi king, the president of Ukraine, as well as the leaders of Iceland and Pakistan. The documents reveal how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled some $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.
While there is nothing illegal about offshore account, these documents allegedly show that major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies, allowing investors to hide millions in secret offshore tax shelters and use those accounts to skirt tax laws.
The information was made public Sunday after the papers were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Mossack Fonseca has worked with at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government due to evidence they were involved in wrongdoing. You know, things like doing business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, and troublemaking nations like North Korea and Iran.
So far, no names associated with American investors have been released. Some say thats unlikely to be the result of American incorruptibility and due more to American distrust of the Central American country where the firm is based. However, investors looking to hide ill-gotten gains and manipulating the financial system to do so is a world-wide effort.
The Panama Papers investigation reveals the secret cash havens of the global elite and the financial underbelly of the world. Its the kind of corruption and unfairness that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is campaigning against.
Instead of sheltering profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens, the largest corporations in this country must pay their fair share of taxes so that our country has the revenue we need to rebuild America and reduce the deficit, Sanders has said.
The progressive leader has sponsored the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act, which would prevent corporations from sheltering profits in tax havens like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and would stop rewarding companies that ship jobs and factories overseas with tax breaks.
Sanders also sponsored the Corporate Tax Fairness Act, which would require U.S. companies to pay taxes on all their income by ending the deferral of foreign source income and he co-sponsored the Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015, which would stop corporations from buying a smaller foreign business and moving their tax domicile overseas, for tax purposes.
One pro-Bernie blogger wrote:
This is exactly what Bernie is trying to change. He needs to get out in front of this and show that THIS is why we need a political revolution and why the economy is rigged in favor of the wealthy. Bernies campaign is the anti-corruption campaign, after all. We are best poised to help change this for the better.
http://trofire.com/2016/04/04/panama-papers-care/
djean111
(14,255 posts)Not going to be complicit. Voting for Bernie.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)and what can be done about it.
think
(11,641 posts)Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Foundation at any time? And determine their own salaries?
bobthedrummer
(26,083 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,769 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Corporations always stay one step ahead, because there are countless ways to hide money and cook books
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Even as the worlds wealthiest and most powerful nations have engaged in increasingly complex and intensive efforts at international cooperation to smooth the wheels of global commerce, they have willfully chosen to allow the wealthiest members of Western society to shield their financial assets from taxation (and in many cases divorce or bankruptcy settlement) by taking advantage of shell companies and tax havens.
https://theintercept.com/2016/04/04/a-key-similarity-between-snowden-leak-and-panamapapers-scandal-is-whats-been-legalized/
It doesn't have to be this way.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)as they are in their constant criticisms of "western" society...
Funny, because Brazil *still* has one of the widest rich/poor gaps on the planet...
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)speaking about our corrupt system. I read many sources, this is one.
beedle
(1,235 posts)At the very least another case of bad judgement .... humm, Max Baucus & Challie Rangel doing a lot of the pushing. Not saying, just saying.