Trillions down the drain

"Plenty of quite sensible suggestions are now circulating about what triggered
the worst financial crisis since 1929 and what will have to be done to avoid
future crises. They include improved regulation of rating agencies, an
approval procedure for new financial products (‘financial MOT’) and the
banning of off-balance-sheet special purpose companies.

At the same time, in what is apparently a completely unconnected move, the
German Federal Government has started to look for better ways of combating
tax avoidance in tax havens such as Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as
Panama and Singapore. In this respect, it has remained largely unremarked
that the inadequate regulation of actors on the financial markets and tax
avoidance are two sides of the same coin: for both presuppose the existence
of tax havens that, apart from low taxes, offer an environment where, to a
large extent, regulators deliberately refrain from intervening.

‘The development of the current credit crisis in the financial sector would have
been impossible without offshore centres,’ as the non-governmental
organisation (NGO) Tax Justice Network put it in a statement for a hearing of
the Treasury Committee of the lower house of the British parliament."


Greed, the Corrupt System and Shadow Banking

Postby demandside » Wed Feb 10, 2010 2:24 pm
"A sudden change of thought patterns has occurred. For thirty years, the dogmas were in effect: trust in the self-healing powers of the market, the sleek state is the best of all possible states and economic policy will not be necessary if the central bank fights inflation..

A corrupt system caused the crisis, not the individual failure of greed. For diversion, scapegoats, greedy managers, are sought out..

All economists say lowering taxes is counter-productive and irresponsible. Launching an economic upswing through tax cuts alone does not succeed as shown with Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher. Tax cuts mean public budgets are impoverished and a few private persons enriched."

to read the interview with Friedhelm Hengsbach published on 12/19/2009, click on
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2010/02/397181.shtml

to read the 15-page pdf article "Trillions Down the Drain" published in: Blatter fur deutsche und internationale Politik 3/2009, click on