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<H2 class=post-title>Uncovered: $20.3 Trillion Hidden in Offshore Banks by
Global Elite</H2>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">According to the most detailed study of the
so-called offshore economy to date, conducted by James Henry, former chief
economist with the consultancy McKinsey, the world’s richest people have taken
advantage of cross-border tax laws in order to put away a shocking $20.31
trillion in offshore banks.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">While this likely isn’t all that crazy to those
who are familiar with the <A
title="GAO audit reveals massive conflicts of interest at the private Federal Reserve"
href="http://endthelie.com/2011/10/19/gao-audit-reveals-massive-conflicts-of-interest-at-the-private-federal-reserve/"
rel=nofollow target=_blank>massive conflicts of interest in the Federal
Reserve</A> and the fact that the Federal Reserve works with banks to
put Americans <A
title="Bank of America is attempting to rob America blind with the help of the Federal Reserve "
href="http://endthelie.com/2011/10/19/bank-of-america-is-attempting-to-rob-america-blind-with-the-help-of-the-federal-reserve/"
rel=nofollow target=_blank>on the line for the failures of banks</A>, it might
be surprising to those who have no clue how the international financial system
works.</P>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">The astounding sum uncovered by the Henry is
slightly less than the 2011 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Japan ($5.87
trillion) on top of the 2011 United States GDP ($15.09 trillion).</P>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">The findings were published in the new report, “<A
title="Estimating the Price of Offshore"
href="http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/front_content.php?idcat=148" rel=nofollow
target=_blank>The Price of Offshore Revisited</A>,” which shows that money
continues to leak out of major nations and into infamous tax havens like
Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">These transactions are enabled by private banking
institutions which all battle to get the accounts of what <A
title="£13tn hoard hidden from taxman by global elite"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/global-elite-tax-offshore-economy"
rel=nofollow target=_blank>the Guardian</A> calls the “global super-rich
elite,” also known as high net-worth individuals.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Henry demonstrates that sums between £13 trillion
($20.3 trillion) and £20 ($31.23 trillion) have made their way from countries
around the world into these secretive banking jurisdictions.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Thus, the wealth of these ultra-rich individuals
is “protected by a highly paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the
private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of
the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy.”</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Ah, such is the glory of globalization! With
liberalized trade and finance laws, what petty issues must the so-called global
elite be concerned with? None! No more pesky regulations and legal issues to
worry about when dealing with huge sums of money!</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Henry’s research revealed that the world’s top 10
private banking institutions managed over $6 trillion in 2010 alone. This is
obviously a major increase from $2.3 trillion in 2005.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Among others, these banking institutions include
the U.S.-based Goldman Sachs and the Swiss UBS and Credit Suisse.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">The research used a wide variety of sources
including none other than the Bank of International Settlements and the
International Monetary Fund and led to some quite astounding conclusions.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">The analysis in the report revealed that in some
developing countries, the amount of money which has left the country since the
1970s would easily be able to pay the country’s debts.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Unsurprisingly, some of the worst hit by this
practice have been the oil-rich nations with an ultra-rich class which can
easily take its money out of the local economy.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">For instance, the Guardian reports, “Once the
returns on investing the hidden assets is included, almost £500bn has left
Russia since the early 1990s when its economy was opened up.</P>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“Saudi Arabia has seen £197bn flood out since the
mid-1970s, and Nigeria £196bn,” they add.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“The problem here is that the assets of these
countries are held by a small number of wealthy individuals while the debts are
shouldered by the ordinary people of these countries through their governments,”
states the report.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Unfortunately, the number of people holding a
significant amount of the assets of various nations is steadily shrinking and
obviously the supposedly “public” debt is placed on the shoulders of the
everyday people who can’t hide away their riches in foreign banks.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">One of the most troubling conclusions we find in
this report is that the massive amount of money held in jurisdictions outside of
the reach of various tax agencies indicates that the actual gap between the rich
and poor around the world is in fact much larger than previously believed.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">As evidence of this, Henry calculated that around
$9.84 trillion is in the hands of a mere 92,000 individuals. In other words,
0.001% of the population holds more than <A
title="List of countries by GDP (nominal)"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)"
rel=nofollow target=_blank>the yearly GDP of every country</A> except the
EU and the US.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“These estimates reveal a staggering failure:
inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians
are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people,” said
John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“People on the street have no illusions about how
unfair the situation has become,” Christensen added.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“The very existence of the global offshore
industry, and the tax-free status of the enormous sums invested by their wealthy
clients, is predicated on secrecy,” explained Henry.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Indeed, if it was not for the secrecy – which has
never been questioned even after leaders of G20 nations claimed they would crack
down on such activities – there wouldn’t be such a thing as offshore tax
havens.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Unfortunately they are real and they are
constantly being used by the ultra-wealthy to avoid the same taxes everyone who
is too poor to remove their money from the country is forced to pay.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of Trades
Union Congress said, “Countries around the world are under intense pressure to
reduce their deficits and governments cannot afford to let so much wealth slip
past into tax havens.”</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“Closing down the tax loopholes exploited by
multinationals and the super-rich to avoid paying their fair share will reduce
the deficit,” Barber added. “This way the government can focus on stimulating
the economy, rather than squeezing the life out of it with cuts and tax rises
for the 99% of people who aren’t rich enough to avoid paying their taxes.”</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">If nations were to go after these funds, the
Guardian posits that huge sums of money would become available.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">“Assuming the £13tn mountain of assets earned an
average 3% a year for its owners, and governments were able to tax that income
at 30%, it would generate a bumper £121bn in revenues – more than rich countries
spend on aid to the developing world each year,” they write.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Indeed, this would offset the national deficits of
so many countries considerably and create a great deal more money for
much-needed causes.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Yet I seriously doubt this will ever happen as the
people making egregious use of these tax havens are the same ones bankrolling
the political campaigns.</P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">Thus, I seriously doubt any smart politician is
going to risk his or her political future on going after the ultra-rich class of
the world’s wealthiest figures in the name of a couple votes. Sure, they might
spew some rhetoric but when it comes down to it, they know who pays for the
primetime television advertisements.</P></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>