Whatever the fallout from Panama, the rich will continue to go offshore

[barryqwalsh]

But is anyone really surprised that Bashar al-Assad of Syria or Col Gaddafi of Libya had money salted away in the Caymans or some other sun-drenched tax shelter in case they ever made it out alive from their benighted lands? The former might yet avail himself of his plunder; the latter never managed to.

friends of Vladimir Putin have enriched themselves through association with the Kremlin kleptocrat? It was not even unexpected to find the name ofDavid Cameron’s late father on the listsince it has been known for years that he ran a Panamanian-based investment fund, Blairmore Holdings. On the other hand, it is the Prime Minister’s misfortune that this story has reminded voters that he is actually rich and privileged – even if he does try to act like “one of us”.


Whatever the fallout from Panama, the rich will continue to go offshore

 

[midcan5]

That is the problem with utopia be it capitalism, marxism, libertarianism, conservatism, democracy, socialism, nirvana. Any others? Humans run these things, A pessimistic thought agreed, but where to now. (And yet I am happy.)

Check out corporate tax havens and you must wonder how America will repair a crumbling infrastructure when it biggest users hide from their responsibility. Will Trump or Sanders address this issue?

FedEx - SourceWatch

Pepco Holdings - SourceWatch

Walmart - SourceWatch

"Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite." John Kenneth Galbraith

"To serve contentment, there were and are three basic requirements. One is the need to defend the general limitation on government as regards the economy; there must be a doctrine that offers a feasible presumption against government intervention...The second, more specific need is to find social justification for the untrammeled, uninhibited pursuit and possession of wealth....There is need for demonstration that the pursuit of wealth or even less spectacular well-being serves a serious, even grave social purpose....The third need is to justify a reduced sense of public responsibility for the poor. Those so situated, the members of the functional and socially immobilised underclass, must, in some very real way, be seen as the architects of their own fate. If not, they could be, however marginally, on the conscience of the comfortable." John Kenneth Galbraith, The Culture of Contentment

 

[Wyatt earp]

That is the problem with utopia be it capitalism, marxism, libertarianism, conservatism, democracy, socialism, nirvana. Any others? Humans run these things, A pessimistic thought agreed, but where to now. (And yet I am happy.)

Check out corporate tax havens and you must wonder how America will repair a crumbling infrastructure when it biggest users hide from their responsibility. Will Trump or Sanders address this issue?

FedEx - SourceWatch

Pepco Holdings - SourceWatch

Walmart - SourceWatch

"Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite." John Kenneth Galbraith

"To serve contentment, there were and are three basic requirements. One is the need to defend the general limitation on government as regards the economy; there must be a doctrine that offers a feasible presumption against government intervention...The second, more specific need is to find social justification for the untrammeled, uninhibited pursuit and possession of wealth....There is need for demonstration that the pursuit of wealth or even less spectacular well-being serves a serious, even grave social purpose....The third need is to justify a reduced sense of public responsibility for the poor. Those so situated, the members of the functional and socially immobilised underclass, must, in some very real way, be seen as the architects of their own fate. If not, they could be, however marginally, on the conscience of the comfortable." John Kenneth Galbraith, The Culture of Contentment

We must bring back the 90% tax rates of the 50s that will teach them.

 

[Campbell]

That is the problem with utopia be it capitalism, marxism, libertarianism, conservatism, democracy, socialism, nirvana. Any others? Humans run these things, A pessimistic thought agreed, but where to now. (And yet I am happy.)

Check out corporate tax havens and you must wonder how America will repair a crumbling infrastructure when it biggest users hide from their responsibility. Will Trump or Sanders address this issue?

FedEx - SourceWatch

Pepco Holdings - SourceWatch

Walmart - SourceWatch

"Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite." John Kenneth Galbraith

"To serve contentment, there were and are three basic requirements. One is the need to defend the general limitation on government as regards the economy; there must be a doctrine that offers a feasible presumption against government intervention...The second, more specific need is to find social justification for the untrammeled, uninhibited pursuit and possession of wealth....There is need for demonstration that the pursuit of wealth or even less spectacular well-being serves a serious, even grave social purpose....The third need is to justify a reduced sense of public responsibility for the poor. Those so situated, the members of the functional and socially immobilised underclass, must, in some very real way, be seen as the architects of their own fate. If not, they could be, however marginally, on the conscience of the comfortable." John Kenneth Galbraith, The Culture of Contentment

We must bring back the 90% tax rates of the 50s that will teach them.

It wasn't as bad as you think. Rich folks paid 91% of the excess above $300,000 in federal tax. That $300,000 was the equivalent of a couple of million in today's bucks. We at least paid for the war we financed. Today the Republicans spend and spend but never balance a budget. In other words to hell with the debt, we won't have to pay it.

We wouldn't even have a debt if George W. Bush had simply left tax rates where they were when he took over.

The Republican party wants a flat tax which would automatically give them a 10%-15% tax cut.

 

[Mudda]

Tax departments in a lot of countries are waging a war on their citizens to squeeze every last dime out of them, so it's no wonder that people and their money flee for safer havens. That's what happens in wartime.

 

[waltky]

US State Dept. not involved in Panama Papers leak...

State Dept. to Putin: US Was Not ‘In Any Way Involved’ in Panama Papers Leak
April 8, 2016 – The State Department on Thursday rejected allegations – by Russian President Vladimir Putin or anyone else – that the U.S. government had a hand in the leak of the so-called Panama Papers, millions of documents revealing the offshore holdings of politicians, businesspeople, and celebrities. “I would reject the premise or the assertion that we’re in any way involved in the actual leak of these documents,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner, referring to 11.5 million files from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, which claims the files were hacked, rather than leaked by an insider.

Several of Putin’s associates have been named in reports on the leaked documents, and on Thursday, Putin suggested his opponents were trying to weaken Russia from within by “spreading distrust for the ruling authorities.” To back his insinuation that the U.S. was involved, Putin alluded to a tweet Wednesday from Wikileaks, which drew attention to the fact that one of the scores of media organizations involved in the Panama Papers investigation, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), gets funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and George Soros’ Open Society Institute. “We now know from WikiLeaks that officials and state agencies in the United States are behind all this,” Putin said during a media forum in St. Petersburg.

He made the comment as part of a lengthy response to a question about the Panama Papers, and specifically about his close friend, renowned cellist Sergei Roldugin, who is linked in the leaked documents to offshore activities worth some $2 billion. Putin suggested the leak was merely the latest attack by opponents, whom he painted as frustrated by the fact that Russia’s economy continues to grow, along with its military prowess – as evidenced in the recent Syrian mission. “They are used to holding a monopoly on the international stage and do not want have to make way for anyone else,” he said. “What worries our opponents the most is not even this [Russia’s economic and military gains], but the unity and cohesion of the Russian nation,” he said. “Attempts are made to weaken us from within, make us more acquiescent and make us toe their line. What is the easiest way of doing this? It is to spread distrust for the ruling authorities and the bodies of power within society and to set people against each other.”

Turning to the Panama Papers, Putin said those carrying out the “assignment” were faced by the fact that he was not himself implicated in the “offshore holding controversy,” and so had managed to find some of his friends, “and they fiddled around and knocked something together.” “There is this friend of the Russian president, and they say he has done something, probably something corruption-related. In fact, there is no corruption involved at all.” Putin went on to defend Roldugin, saying he was “proud to count him among my friends.” “He is a minority shareholder in one of our companies and makes some money out of it, but not billions of dollars of course. That is nonsense. The reality is nothing of the sort.”

At the State Department briefing, Toner was asked about Putin’s suggestion that the leak was part of a U.S. plot to undermine Russia. “I would reject the premise or the assertion that we’re in any way involved in the actual leak of these documents,” he said. “The assertion by him or by anyone that the U.S. government had anything to do with this is – you say it’s – that’s completely wrong?” a reporter asked. “That’s right,” Toner said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "But lookit dat sly grin - he's guilty o' sumpin'...

Putin not named in Panama Papers
Saturday 9th April, 2016 - Russian president Vladimir Putin's claim the Panama Papers leak is part of a U.S. plan to weaken Russia, reported on Big News Network and elsewhere on Friday, may be a bit of a stretch. However there is no doubt the Russian president has spearheaded the reporting on the issue with many headlines linking the scandal to Putin, and in others where world leaders were referred to, inevitably the photos that accompanied the stories were photos of Putin.

Stories from the mainstream media newspapers were dominated with terms such as "Putin confidants," 'Putin loyalists," Putin's circle," "Putin's associates," "allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin," and "Putin cronies." "Connections" were described as "fast friends," "almost like brothers," his "inner circle," "childhood chum," and "Godfather to his daughter." Nowhere in any of the reports however was Putin himself referred to. The reason for that is Putiin's name does not appear in the Panama Papers - at all. "Nowhere in the Mossack Fonseca files is the name of the Russian president, a former KGB spymaster, actually mentioned," the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which revealed the papers said in a report on April 3rd at the time of their release.

Yet the mainstream media has been relentless:

"Revealed - the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin" - The Guardian, 5 April 2016

"Putin associates linked to 'money laundering'" - BBC, 3 April 2016

"All Putin's Men: Secret Records Reveal Money Network Tied to Russian Leader" - ICIJ, 3 April 2016

Granny says, "Lookit dat - grinnin' like a possum eatin' a persimmom​

The stories, published by 100 media outlets lthroughout the world, chosen by the ICIJ were based on 4.8 million emails, 3 million database files, and 2.1 million PDFs leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that deals extensively in establishing trusts and companies incorporated in tax havens for prominent high net worth individuals around the world. "This is pretty much every document from this firm over a 40-year period," ICIJ director Gerard Ryle told Wired in a phone call this week, saying it was "about 2,000 times larger than the WikiLeaks state department cables," indeed the biggest leak in history.

Addressing a media forum at St Petersburg, Putin described the Panama Papers as a 'U.S.-led disinformation campaign aimed at weakening Russia's government.' He claimed, "They are trying to destabilise us from within in order to make us more compliant." The ICIJ investigation of the papers alleged Putin's cellist friend Sergei Roldugin, who was described in one report as "Putin's wallet," had "secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies." Putin however said that Roldugin earned his money as a minority shareholder of a Russian company and used the money to buy rare musical instruments. "Without publicising himself, he also has worked to organise concerts, promote Russian culture abroad and effectively paid his own money for that. The more people like him we have, the better. And I'm proud to have friends like him," Putin added.

MORE

See also:

Putin claims his name was misused by Western media in Panama leaks
Saturday 9th April, 2016 : Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the Panama Paper leak is part of a U.S. plan to weaken Russia and denied any connection with offshore accounts.

He also said that his cellist friend, whose name was linked to a $2 billion empire in the papers, is a philanthropist and had spent his own funds to buy rare musical instruments for Russian state collections. He added that the Western media had dragged his name into the controversy even though his name had not appeared in the Panama Paper leaks. Commenting on the leaks for the first time after they were made public, Putin said, “Your humble servant is not there; there is nothing to talk about.” Addressing a media forum at St Petersburg, the Russian President said the allegations made in the Panama Papers are part of a ‘U.S.-led disinformation campaign aimed at weakening Russia’s government. He claimed, “They are trying to destabilise us from within in order to make us more compliant.”

An investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed that Putin’s associates, especially his cellist friend Sergei Roldugin had “secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.” Putin however said that Roldugin earned his money as a minority shareholder of a Russian company and used the money to buy rare musical instruments. “Without publicising himself, he also has worked to organise concerts, promote Russian culture abroad and effectively paid his own money for that. The more people like him we have, the better. And I'm proud to have friends like him,” he added. Putin said that the leak was part of a larger plot of the U.S. to weaken the Russian government. “WikiLeaks has shown us now the fact that officials and official organs of the United States stand behind this,” Putin said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister admitted that he had earned money through an offshore company that had been established by his father. The Panama Papers leak exposed tax havens used by the elite, through the release of over 2.6 terabytes of data with more than 11.5 million documents. Documents contain records of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca’s dealings implicating several global leaders, celebrities, sports icons, business tycoons and their families. The documents reportedly show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

Initially obtained by German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, the Panama Papers were investigated for over a year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and involved more than 100 publications from nearly 80 countries. The Panama Papers website by ICIJ has described the leaks as an “unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures.”

Putin claims his name was misused by Western media in Panama leaks

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - is a buncha ganstas behind it...

Prosecutors focus on organised crime in new raid at Panama law firm
Sunday 24th April, 2016 - Authorities in Panama reportedly launched a second raid into Mossack Fonseca, the law firm that is at the centre of one of the world's biggest data leaks, the Panama Papers.

According to reports in the La Prensa newspaper, prosecutors said, they “carried out a raid on a storage property belonging to the firm Mossack Fonseca.” The company on the other hand said in a statement that it was “ready to cooperate with investigations under way.” The firm added that it would send documents to the warehouse that was raided by prosecutors, on the outskirts of Panama city (merely 15 kms from the headquarters) so they could be recycled. Reports added that the firm has denied destroying documents, claiming that bags of shredded papers seized by investigators from one of its properties had already been digitised and that prosecutors already had copies of everything from evidence seized in the previous raid.

Reports quoted Javier Caraballo, head of the newly formed Special Prosecutor for Organised Crime as saying that investigators had found "extensive documentation" and would re-assemble the shredded papers to analyse their contents. The first raid by the prosecutors at the firm’s headquarters was held on April 12 and lasted 72 hours. The second one has come merely weeks later, with the focus this time being on organised crime. Both the raids were conducted by the same prosecutorial unit. At the end of the first raid, the prosecutors claimed that they had not found any evidence that supported their charges. However, they had added that the firm had maintained records on more than 100 servers located at different locations. The firm has maintained that it did nothing illegal and claimed that its servers were hacked from abroad, making it a victim of cybertheft.

Meanwhile, authorities in Panama are in the process of adopting global standards on sharing tax information, which would impact the way Mossack Fonseca has done business. Initially obtained by German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, the Panama Papers leak exposed tax havens used by the elite, through the release of over 2.6 terabytes of data with more than 11.5 million documents. Documents contain records of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca’s dealings implicating several global leaders, celebrities, sports icons, business tycoons and their families. The documents reportedly show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

The Panama Papers were investigated for over a year by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), involved more than 100 publications from nearly 80 countries. The Panama Papers website by ICIJ has described the leaks as an “unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures.”

Prosecutors focus on organised crime in new raid at Panama law firm

See also:

Brazil corruption: $125m of dirty money 'repatriated' in 2015
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 - Brazil has said it repatriated $125m (£86m) of dirty money last year, most of which had been diverted from the state oil company Petrobras.

The record figure is eight times more than what was recovered over the previous decade, the Justice Ministry has reportedly said. Officials say their policy of negotiating plea bargains with suspects has helped them recover assets. Much of the money had been diverted from the state oil company Petrobras.

Dozens of executives and politicians have been arrested or are under investigation on suspicion of overcharging contracts with the company as part of an inquiry known as Operation Car Wash. Part of the diverted money, authorities say, had been used to pay for bribes and electoral campaigns. It is believed the scheme had cost Petrobras $2bn (£1.2bn).

By contrast, between 2005 and 2014, Brazilian officials managed to recover $15m (£10m), newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported (in Portuguese). From the amount repatriated in 2015, $95m (£66m) was linked to the Car Wash investigation. The money had been diverted to Switzerland and returned to Brazil, the report said, adding that most of it was expected to be returned to Petrobras.

Brazil corruption: $125m of dirty money 'repatriated' in 2015 - BBC News