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White collar crime has always been enabled at the highest levels of governmental authority. The Panama Papers shed some light on the most recent incarnations of
by LB232323 5y ago
White collar crime has always been enabled at the highest levels of governmental authority. The Panama Papers shed some light on the most recent incarnations of this.
Governments are inherently the largest criminal actors, they have a monopoly on the enforcement of law. Corruption is a natural consequence of a world governed by profit. What happened when whistleblowers stepped forward on the true extent of international financial crime? Nothing.
The question is not how a government can hold itself or its citizens accountable for white collar crime, the question is why and how these structures exist.
Look at the money laundering records of the largest banks, their cooperation with organized crime. Look at the slush money and criminal activities of federal law enforcement, military, and intelligence agencies.
The answer is that profit governs our global society and holds the greatest sway in political power structures.
As long as our world is governed in this way, then the world can be looted and plundered without consequence. Money laundering is just a vehicle for legitimizing these activities.
- bumbada 5y ago>Corruption is a natural consequence of a world governed by profit. Profit is no necessary for corruption to happen. Lenin and Stalin did prosecute profit(and millions starved as a consequence) and their country was extremely corrupt. It is power that corrupts. Humans have a social hierarchy like other social animals and people want to be above and not down. Power is inside our brains not outside. You don't need to teach anything to a horse or a Wolf, or gorillas, they will try to dominate the other horses, Wolves or Gorillas. And Humans, specially dominant Humans want to dominate other humans, and most humans don't like being dominated.
- LB232323 5y agoStalin sold out his country in debt negotiations with foreign banks. He did this because Kulaks destroyed massive amounts of grain in order to maintain profitable prices. Ask a Russian and they will tell you that profit seeking caused the Holodomor. This Animal Farm logic has been digested by most Americans. Russians actually wanted democracy, but this was suppressed by Bolshevism. Most of human history encompasses hunter gatherer societies, a social hierarchy in which the most vital resources are collectively owned.
- CryptoPunk 5y agoThe most corrupt countries in the world outlawed profits. Profit is but one of many ways to compete. You can't eliminate competition by eliminating the ability to profit: https://fee.org/articles/there-s-no-escaping-competition/ https://fee.org/articles/there-s-no-escaping-competition/
- LB232323 5y agoYou can't outlaw profits. If we're talking about corrupt "socialist" nations, they sell out their countries in debt negotions with foreign banks. Capitalism is not very old in the grand scheme of human history. Most of human history falls under a collectively owned economy.
- mythrwy 5y agoMost of human history does not fall under a collectively owned economy. Maybe much of human pre-history, or peoples with no history could be classified this way (although struggles for control of resources was still pervasive), but the historical period of humanity goes hand in hand with ownership and some of the first historical records were in fact to record ownership.
- CryptoPunk 5y agoPrivate ownership has existed since prehistoric times. Even animals observe private ownership, not just over their own bodies, which is self-ownership, but also over their kills, and territory. The principle of First Possession, where other animals have a tendency to cede control over a resource to the first animal that comes to possess it, is widely observed by behaviorally advanced animals, and game theory experiments suggest it reduces conflict, which would explain why.