System
Tax Evasion
Financial secrecy
The globalizing era has produced an explosion in the volume of
illegitimate commercial and financial transactions. North American and
European banking and investment institutions have been flooded with laundered and ill-gotten gains.
Amounting to trillions of dollars, most of these sums are generated through
secretive arrangements between cooperating but distant private-sector entities.
Much of this subject is taboo in business and government circles, yet this torrent of stolen, disguised and hidden resources poses a major risk to state security,
corporate stability, democracy, free enterprise, the effectiveness of international aid programs and the lives and
well-being of billions across the world.
In a corrupt world there is of course a need for a safe place to store criminal money.
By means of bank secrecy the power elite turn the world upside down by protecting top criminality by law.
They don't only place themselves above the law but, whenever they can, also try to change or
implement new laws by which they enable their criminality.
The Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks (colloquially known as the Banking Law of 1934) is the law that governs the regulation of banks in Switzerland.
It created the current regime of bank secrecy that Swiss banks are famous for.
Under the Banking Law of 1934, it is a criminal act for a bank to reveal the name of an account holder.
Secrecy is linked to corruption.
Bank secrecy is a swiss invention which quickly spread throughout the globe.
Financial secrecy favors top criminality.
In the 1930s Meyer Lansky, a member of the Jewish Mafia with links to the Italian Mafia,
used Swiss bank secrecy, assured by the
1934 Swiss Banking Act, to launder his criminal money.
He even bought an offshore bank in Switzerland.
The power elite and the
super-rich are experts in
tax evasion while they make taxpayers pay taxes.
So the bank secrecy they installed makes exposing criminals a criminal act.
Capital flight
A far-reaching new study suggests a staggering $21tn in assets has been lost to global tax havens.
If taxed, that could have been enough to put parts of Africa back on its feet — and even solve the
euro crisis.
All countries need tax revenue to fund vital public services like healthcare and education, and to redistribute wealth to tackle
poverty and inequality.
One of the biggest barriers to doing this is tax dodging by
multinational companies and
rich individuals shifting their profits into tax havens.
The United Kingdom with its financial capital the
City of London is world leader in housing tax havens. The
United States and its global financial centre New York City is second. They're of course aided by the
banks of the
European Union and the
World Bank and IMF.
Professional liars
David Cameron at the Open Government Partnership
Prime Minister David Cameron has championed open government in the UK with a pledge to make the government "the most open and transparent in the world".
However, it's another obvious lie...
Various OECD member states run satellite secrecy jurisdictions, but
Britain's network is by far the largest, accounting for between a
third and a half of the global market in offshore financial services.
The reality is that the United Kingdom is home to the
City of London and leads a global tax haven network.
Barack Obama at the Open Government Partnership
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.
We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.
Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
However, it's another obvious lie...
The Corruption Chronicles comprehensively highlights how the Obama administration, which promised to be the most transparent administration in history,
became the most secretive in a generation, and it exposes the inside facts that the Obama administration has desperately
fought — sometimes in court — to keep from the American people.
This is the story of the political elite who serve as
mouthpieces for the
power elite. Their mouths propagate openness but they work for
secrecy. Their mouths propagate
democracy but they act against it.
Under Obama global espionage exploded and
torture was practiced. Under Obama the
U.S. waged constant
war in parts of the world
rich in resources or in any other way of
geopolitical importance.
Under Obama drone strikes flourished. It's all about
power, not love.
In reality the power elite aim at globalization which is contrary to democracy and sovereignty.
Secrecy is rampant in the world of
power because power
corrupts and the corrupt obviously don't want the public to know too much about it.
You ask why, if there's an important role for a regulated banking system,
do you allow a non-regulated banking system to continue? It's in the interests of some of the moneyed interests to allow this to occur. It's not an accident;
it could have been shut down at any time. If you said the US, the UK, the
major G-7 banks will not deal with offshore bank centers that don't comply
with G-7 bank regulations, these banks could not exist. They only exist because they can engage in transactions with standard
banks.
Tax havens exist because our governments allow them to exist. The
political elite serve the
corporate elite who serve the
financial elite.
While the power elite make sure the tax payers are taxed, they make sure the
super-rich are not. Another factor that plays a role in growing
economic inequality.