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Uncovering the secret offshore accounts of the global elite
- disneygibson 5y agoConsidering how the US government has spent its trillions in the last few decades, keeping money offshore might actually be an ethical move. If buying products from a company that exploits workers in X country is unethical, why are taxes used to fund wars any different?
- wallace01 5y agoUnfortunately the ones who could do something about that are the ones who do the same shit
- Atlantium 5y agoWhich means there is no peaceful solution available.
- dang 5y agoWe've banned this account for using HN primarily for ideological battle. That's not allowed here, regardless of which ideology you're battling for, because it destroys what the site is supposed to be for. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- hh3k0 5y ago"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." – John F. Kennedy I wonder if HN would've banned Kennedy for uttering these words.
- hh3k0 5y agoThat's not quite right, we significantly outnumber them.
- davidw 5y ago> one report had suggested that the amount of money held in trusts in South Dakota had grown from two billion dollars in 2007 to three hundred and sixty billion dollars today. Wow. South Dakota, "offshore" money haven.
- adolph 5y agoYeah, its almost as if money like (or as) information routes around damage. * Gilmore puts it, "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."* https://web.archive.org/web/20210408023213/https://kirste.userpage.fu-berlin.de/outerspace/internet-article.html https://web.archive.org/web/20210408023213/https://kirste.us...
- frgtpsswrdlame 5y agoIt's good that the ICIJ is getting this information out there, I just wish they'd stop removing prominent Americans from what they publish.
- nobodyandproud 5y agoWould you elaborate? For Americans, this is obviously as important if not more important!
- dewey 5y agoThey are asking them to include the names of American people in the published list.
- kasey_junk 5y agoThey have named some prominent Americans. If they are actively censoring them no one has stated that. People speculate that Americans weren’t large customers of the firms that leaked because a) US tax regime provides less benefit and b) Americans don’t need to go offshore because we have states inshore that provide similar benefits.
- Ansil849 5y ago> I just wish they'd stop removing prominent Americans from what they publish. What is the point of making incendiary comments like this but then not providing any evidence to back them up? Which prominent Americans are ICIJ removing, and from which publications of theirs? And how do you know this? These are all basic things you need to preemptively provide evidence of if you're going to make a claim like this.
- soperj 5y agoIt's been evident for decades that people do this, so it's safe to say that the only reason they don't prosecute this is that they choose not to.
- SavantIdiot 5y agoThe people that would prosecute and judge are also part of the scheme. Accountability is just something to teach the poor kids in public schools--who aren't the offspring of the corrupt ruling class--so they behave. Fortunately the ruling class knows to keep us anesthetized and distracted just enough to prevent real change and protect themselves.
- djbusby 5y agoPanem et circenses https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
- SavantIdiot 5y agoBrilliant. Funnysad that this still works nearly two thousand years later.
- mistrial9 5y agoclass provocations are misplaced -- the business process cuts people out every day, its not about where you went to school. I object to this class-based commentary because it is a giant distraction from applying solutions
- nerdponx 5y agoDisregarding the real and legitimate effect of class and background is just as bad as fixating on it too much.
- crtfvgybh 5y agoI think the idea of class as the parent used it is less upper vs middle class (in the sense of folks who can afford Yale vs folks who can't afford college), but rather the capital class vs the working class. Do you have a boss? You are a worker, and even if you are making $500k a year you have more in common with other workers than you do with folks who make their money from having money.
- elkekeer 5y agoThis is the New Yorker, not the New York Post. Doesn't worth reading the "output" of the shills of the "global élite".
- forgotmypw17 5y agohttps://archive.md/oJdtA https://archive.md/oJdtA (Without the third top of the page taken up by a banner.)
- datavirtue 5y agoI get the feeling that this is a big nothing burger to the average citizen. They don't care. However, the light shining on this and the subsequent legal action may spur change in spite of voter apathy. This has uncovered the fact that war criminals are buying houses and apartments in various communities around the US. These communities could pass their own ordinances around real estate ownership to stop this.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoI disagree. They do care. They just feel powerless to do anything about it. People across the world are devoting a full third of their waking lives to create wealth for those who spend their time and resources devising ways to maintain their positions atop the system.
- markus_zhang 5y agoIf one does care but do nothing then he/she doesn't really care. I actually think people are getting used to it bit refuses to admit. BTW I don't blame anyone. I myself feel powerless and know I don't care enough to make real actions.
- nerdponx 5y ago> If one does care but do nothing then he/she doesn't really care. I actually think people are getting used to it bit refuses to admit. That makes no sense. "Getting used to it" is a coping mechanism for powerlessness. Of course people care, but they also care about living out the rest of their lives and not sacrificing themselves to a thankless hopeless political cause with unclear solutions.
- crtfvgybh 5y agoIs there something you'd suggest they do? If someone feels powerless and cares deeply, but has no actions available to them it feels pretty bad to say, "they don't really care." Like, what are the options? Running for office themselves on a third party ticket? I can't think of anything that isn't a massive investment of time, money, and energy. Yes, they could get involved with organizations like the DSA and try to grow mutual aid networks and voting blocks. They could get involved with unions and push for more collective power. But those are also big time commitments.
- ospzfmbbzr 5y agoUncovering elites... in the New Yorker? Ya I'm going to go out on a limb and say nothing will come of this but more rules for the working class and small business.
- veidelis 5y agoIs it true that selected group of people can buy shares in Fed?
- asperous 5y agoThe Fed is quasi-private so yes you can
- credit_guy 5y agoNot at all. Here's a quote from the Kansas City Fed webpage [1] Who owns the Federal Reserve? The Federal Reserve System fulfills its public mission as an independent entity within government. It is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. [1] https://www.kansascityfed.org/about-us/frequently-asked-questions/ https://www.kansascityfed.org/about-us/frequently-asked-ques...
- ospzfmbbzr 5y agoThey are owned by it's member banks. The member banks are most certainly for-profit. Those member banks are in turn owned through a web of funds and trusts by individuals. Do you really think these institutions exists for the good of the people? They exist to control the people by controlling the availability of credit, which is the main driver of the artificial boom-bust economic cycle.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- credit_guy 5y ago
- foolinaround 5y agoa lot of these journalists have been purchased by the elites and have their own axes to grind, so unless the amateur folks are given a framework to ferret out such information, not much will come out of this.
- chalst 5y ago> a lot of these journalists have been purchased by the elites Care to name one? I'd be very surprised if you can find something on Michael Hudson: https://www.icij.org/journalists/michael-hudson/ https://www.icij.org/journalists/michael-hudson/ > not much will come out of this Today I read that President Sebastián Piñera of Chile has been impeached following the ICIJ's revelation of details of a controversial mining deal. Your comment reads like cheap cynicism.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y agoDo you have a source for that claim? Is anything in the article factually incorrect?
- Poyfj 5y agoMan its high time we move banks into space. The global elite should have an option to park all their cash there or maybe shoot it into the sun. That way loss aversion and privacy can be handled better.
- banku_brougham 5y agoIt takes a surprizing amount of energy to reach the sun, because we are carrying so much momentum.