Teague wrote:Does anyone think this leak came about because of Sander's bringing the corruption of money in politics and the distribution of wealth?

Being Jewish, Sanders is definitely related to The Illuminati somehow, thus he can commandeer leaks like these from a mere phone call to The Rothschilds. Is that what you are trying to say?

quas wrote:Being Jewish, Sanders is definitely related to The Illuminati somehow, thus he can commandeer leaks like these from a mere phone call to The Rothschilds. Is that what you are trying to say?

Seems like a plausible theory to me. That, or Megatron was behind it.

It has nothing to do with Sanders or the American election. Mostly exposed are Europeans and Asians.

Scot Dutchy wrote:It has nothing to do with Sanders or the American election. Mostly exposed are Europeans and Asians.

We have reason to believe that incriminating evidence against American leaders are being witheld, so that Soros can use the testicles of Dear Leader Trump as his stress balls.

quas wrote:

Teague wrote:Does anyone think this leak came about because of Sander's bringing the corruption of money in politics and the distribution of wealth?

Being Jewish, Sanders is definitely related to The Illuminati somehow, thus he can commandeer leaks like these from a mere phone call to The Rothschilds. Is that what you are trying to say?

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No I'm saying that as he's brought up the topic and the only politician to have done so that it's now in the public eye. Maybe someone thought "Yeah, fuck these rich assholes" and if so, I hope the trend continues.

Well I hope it's released soon, before the NY debate.

Teague wrote:Does anyone think this leak came about because of Sander's bringing the corruption of money in politics and the distribution of wealth?

Massive potential for blackmail here. One big leak with massive damage to get the marks' attention then politely inform them of the going rate for not leaking further information.

Teague wrote:No I'm saying that as he's brought up the topic and the only politician to have done so that it's now in the public eye. Maybe someone thought "Yeah, fuck these rich assholes" and if so, I hope the trend continues.

You have this illusion that everyone is listening to him. Who cares what a dinosaur from Vermont is mumbling.

quas wrote:

tuco wrote:He was speculating on the British pound known as the Black Wednesday. Then again, I know him for his activities/support for Roma projects around here, or various human rights NGOs in Russia, but do not have information of the kind implied: He has interest in protecting the 1%. Everyone has interest, that is given. In open society, however, nobody is in possession .. etc :) Arguments will not do it for me, I am sorry.

Maybe he has interest in protecting the 1%, but here's something more interesting than that. Courtesy of this leak, one of the —if not THE— most notorious short-seller is now in possession of information so scandalous capable of toppling governments around the world many times over. Yes, many times over. Supposed that Iceland's PM retired and were to be replaced, there's probably information available to be used against the replacement, the replacement's replacement and so on and so forth. And, we have reason to believe that our short-seller is witholding this information for unlimited future use. Perhaps, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine that he and his buddies had masterminded the infiltration of Mossack Fonseca in the first place and god knows how many other shady offshore companies around the world.

Maybe :) I would not overestimate what you called "capable of toppling governments".

Who cares about Iceland? 300k people who make news when they jail bankers, draw own constitution, have volcano going nuts or kill some sea mammals. Who else is there? Ukraine. Who cares about Ukraine? Russia and NATO does. The EU only declaratory. That country, as far as I know, is run by oligarchs so not to find them in leaks would be odd. Who else? Saudis. They pay taxes to themselves so wtf? Then of course Mr Putin. Does not look to me like he cares one bit. Who else?

And even if. Its no big deal to topple government. It happens every 4-5 years at minimum in liberal democracies. To me its non-issue. One group of idiots replaces another group of idiots, basically. Those who are not idiots do not go to politics and/or get owned there by idiots.

I posted my speculation: hypothetically speaking. Lets assume not everyone in the 1% does something wrong (evade tax, defrauds, corrupts etc). For such rich people, the others who do something wrong are "unfair competition" - not playing by same rules. In this sense I could see why exposing those who do wrong is beneficial to someone else, even if rich one.

Assuming rules will indeed be tightened and it will be much less beneficial to use offshore schemes. Cui bono? Honest businesses, honest rich people, who are in direct competition with other rich people, other businesses.

However, no matter what kind of story I, you or anyone else makes up, such stories remain what they are, whether they make sense to me, you or anyone else. To find hole in argument .. thats like finding nothing in vacuum.

tuco wrote:I posted my speculation: hypothetically speaking. Lets assume not everyone in the 1% does something wrong (evade tax, defrauds, corrupts etc). For such rich people, the others who do something wrong are "unfair competition" - not playing by same rules. In this sense I could see why exposing those who do wrong is beneficial to someone else, even if rich one.

Assuming rules will indeed be tightened and it will be much less beneficial to use offshore schemes. Cui bono? Honest businesses, honest rich people, who are in direct competition with other rich people, other businesses.

Who cares about that kind of "unfair competition"? I doubt Bill Gates lost sleep over Soros making a kiling bankrupting other countries, yeah? So why would Gates give a damn about how other rich bastards — who are not direct competitors his business, thus present no threat to his business whatever — evading taxes or money-laundering? If your speculation has been getting little interest, perhaps it's because it wasn't interesting in the first place.

I told you who cares, those who are in competition with those who do not play by the rules.

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edit: my speculation been getting little interest? lol That is the last thing I care about, whether my speculation gets interest. How about you? ;)

tuco wrote:Who cares about Iceland? 300k people who make news when they jail bankers, draw own constitution, have volcano going nuts or kill some sea mammals. Who else is there? Ukraine. Who cares about Ukraine? Russia and NATO does. The EU only declaratory. That country, as far as I know, is run by oligarchs so not to find them in leaks would be odd. Who else? Saudis. They pay taxes to themselves so wtf? Then of course Mr Putin. Does not look to me like he cares one bit. Who else?

And even if. Its no big deal to topple government. It happens every 4-5 years at minimum in liberal democracies. To me its non-issue. One group of idiots replaces another group of idiots, basically. Those who are not idiots do not go to politics and/or get owned there by idiots.

I mentioned Iceland, because it is the only known case thus far where information stemming from this leak has forced a high-ranking politcian to resign. If you could wrap your head around the implications of this singular event, then you will realise that what happened in Iceland is only a small demonstration of the full destructive capacity of this leaked information. You have effectively witnessed a nuclear bomb being successfully tested in a small city, and yet there you remain apathetic, blissfully unaware of its implications for the world.

Maybe what happened in Iceland wasn't a big deal at all, because it's such a small country. But then again, Iceland's bankrupcy in 2008 is a significant contributing factor to the global financial crisis then.

In Asia, particularly the South East Asian region, political corruption is a hot-button issue and leaked information like these can topple goverments to catastrophic effect. Read up on Phillipine's, Thailand's, and Indonesia's people power protests that resulted in complete regime change. Countries like Singapore and Malaysia, would suffer the hardest-hit, since that they have been ruled by the same single political party since establishment. A total regime change here would be far, far more catastrophic than what happened in Indonesia or Phillipines. Is it a coincidence that, thus far, this leak has curiously presented zero information on Singapore's and Malaysia's political leaders?

That reminds me. What about the biiiiiig countries, like India and China? Will we ever get any juicy information out them? The sort that will topple their governments? Or will the information remain hidden, in the interest of global financial stability?

tuco wrote:
edit: my speculation been getting little interest? lol That is the last thing I care about, whether my speculation gets interest. How about you?

You are like the kid who is obsessed about Rubik's cube, when everyone else is chasing girls.

Oh nuclear bomb lol

How about: Iceland's bankrupcy in 2008 is a significant contributing factor to the global financial crisis then. citation needed?

As for the rest, I will pass and read up on how whole regimes can be changed.

All this, of course, makes the call to 'abolish' tax havens a rather naive approach considering the global upheaval that could ensue.
One is beginning to get the idea that no country's government and its leaders is immune to this scandal.

That isn't to say that the tax havens shouldn't be abolished, of course...

A few days before this came out, our government was talking about removing one of the few tax deductions the ordinary PAYE taxpayer has in this country...work related expenses, ie: things you have to purchase for work purposes and can then deduct from your taxes in a desperate effort to claw at least a tiny amount back from the tax man.

Things have gone awfully quiet from Canberra since then...


Of course most taxpayers have a long memory and can remember the late Kerry Packer being reported to have made a personal income of around $14 million one year (not his company, just him), and paying only about $14,000 income tax on it. When cornered by journalists, he scoffed and said "Anyone who doesn't employ a clever accountant to minimize their tax is a bloody idiot".
Well yes, Kerry...what you did was probably just within the letter of the tax laws, cleverly arranged and distributed, but most of us ordinary schmoes don't "employ" a full time accountant to hide and shift around our income to minimize tax...

Alan B wrote:All this, of course, makes the call to 'abolish' tax havens a rather naive approach considering the global upheaval that could ensue.
One is beginning to get the idea that no country's government and its leaders is immune to this scandal.

That isn't to say that the tax havens shouldn't be abolished, of course...

Abolish tax havens? How does that work? What is possible however is to impose sanctions on tax havens and let them decide if they want to face them or if they want to change their tax, information sharing, policy.

Should I ask what global upheaval could ensue or rather not?

Teague wrote:
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No I'm saying that as he's brought up the topic and the only politician to have done so that it's now in the public eye. Maybe someone thought "Yeah, fuck these rich assholes" and if so, I hope the trend continues.

Since this leakage took many, many years of inflitration, I guess Sanders must have sent a hacker back in time. Now where could he borrow a time-travel device from? How about the most successful short-seller to have ever lived? Soros, who coincidentally or not, also happens to be Jewish.

The public conscience is becoming increasingly aware that the rich and powerful, of whatever political genre, are introduced, (it would appear) once they reach a certain financial threshold, to a 'mind-set' that encourages them to join a global 'club' that will enable them to avoid or evade paying tax and in some cases launder ill-gotten gains.

Before this 'leak', the enormity of the scale was only guessed at and delegated to the realm of 'conspiracy theorists'. Now, it is a revealed 'fact' at the forefront of everyone's mind.

What doesn't appear to have sunk in (yet), is that this 'leak' was only from one company out of dozens maybe hundreds of others that offer these 'services'.

tuco wrote:Abolish tax havens? How does that work?

I haven't a fucking clue. But there is a general perception amongst the Hoi-Polloi that they should not exist and that in an honest society there would be no need.