referenced and yet nothing can make the
government move to stop the crimes caused
by the bankers.
Well, if we don't fight, austerity is going to be our
undertaker.
So, I can only echo the work of the brave people
at the coalface of white collar crime.
In this first one, we see how the City of London,
that is the head of the British offshoring
octopussy, and then some, actually runs the country.
Read 'em: Rowans blog
The
City of London
and the Offshore sector - The Enemy Within
The
City of London, the world's biggest tax evasion facilitator and money laundry
has just been given some more good news, courtesy of George Osborne and the
Coalition Government. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has just sent them a
lightly coded message that their offshore
revenue stream is guaranteed for the foreseeable future!
George
Osborne has just chaired a G7 ministers' meeting at which the question of tax
evasion and aggressive tax avoidance was on the agenda!
The
Huffington Post reports that "...Osborne G7 Talks Sees Chancellor
Criticised After Dodging Details On Tax Avoidance..."
Regular
readers of this blog will recall my observations last week ("Lies, Damned
Lies, and Civil Service Misinformation") about the likelihood of the UK
Government doing anything too aggressively to challenge the offshore-sector and
its control of the tax evasion/aggroidance (my shorthand for aggressive tax
avoidance schemes) industry !
And
so it has proved
George
Osborne has now been criticised for failing to set out any concrete steps to
promote economic growth or tackle tax avoidance during G7 talks, despite his
insistence that the meeting with finance ministers and central bank chiefs was
"successful and constructive."
Using
such weasel words, and playing up the meeting for all it's worth, Osborne
sought to make a great deal of how the meeting had made real steps in the
debate on fiscal evasion issues.
Mr
Osborne said British overseas territories "need to do more" to end
tax evasion.
Well,
that's like saying the Taliban needs to
do more to encourage greater female emancipation in Afghanistan! Ambitious, possibly; desirable, certainly;
but ultimately futile and illusory!
Asked
about the future of tax havens such as Jersey or the Cayman Islands, he said he
had already been "very tough" in his message to them but wanted to
see more action.
"...Of
course we would like these jurisdictions to do more..," he said.
"...We
want them to commit to some of the existing agreements that are in place on tax
information and transparency and we have these initiatives which we are
pursuing in the G8, for example around beneficial ownership, which we would
also expect all jurisdictions to be able to sign up to..."
None
of these comments amount to a row of beans in reality. He can send all the
tough messages he likes, he can want them to do more, and sign up to vague
initiatives about beneficial ownership, but this isn't going to change the
reality of the situation that the offshore sector survives and thrives because
wealthy people put their money there secure in the knowledge that it will be
secure and kept in complete confidence
I
have already discussed the futility of these plans at some length in a previous
blog and nothing I read here from Osborne is going to change my views one iota.
Because then comes the reality interlude, when the real world politique creeps
in! He says;
"...Of
course you have to respect that many of these territories have important
industries and we don't want to unnecessarily damage them..."
Well,
I should think not, and that is the underlying hidden message he has to send
them, because these offshore areas generate a huge amount of money which the
City of London, the enemy within, is waiting to receive. But at the same time,
Osborne has to play the Perfidious Albion games! So he reverts to the default
mode and trots out the shibboleths again.
"...But
it is necessary to collect tax that is owed and it is necessary to reduce tax
avoidance and the crown dependencies and the overseas territories need to play
their part in that drive and they need to do more..."
"...
We all agreed on the importance of collective action to tackle tax avoidance
and evasion..," he said.
Well,
no doubt they did, as they peeled their Plovers' eggs, and shovelled down the
Boeuf a la Bordelaise! It's not difficult to agree to an assertion as bland as
that, after all, ask yourself, what was being agreed to?
"It
is incredibly important that companies and individuals pay the tax that is due
and this is important not just for Britain and for British taxpayers
but also for many developing nations as well."
You
will note that the emphasis here is on the "...tax that is owed..."
but expecting the crown dependencies and the overseas territories to do
anything about it, has the same element of successful expectation as being the
voting returning officer at the turkey farm when the Christmas vote is
announced!
It
is this kind of state-sponsored double-speak that makes the UK look
positively mendacious. It is the kind of statement that is drafted by some
clever young Treasury policy wonk who knows full well there isn't the slightest
intention by anyone in Government to do the least thing about it
And
why?
Because
the UK Government is a hostage to the
City of London and the City now ultimately determines all financial
policies, and that is why I term them 'the enemy within'. The Government has
quietly surrendered the lead role in defining the UK's
future to the City of London,
a non-elected, non-transparent, undemocratic group of elites, and the
Government will dance to their tune.
This
is why the Government's threats to break up the 'too big to fail, too big to
jail' banks into small regional hubs is met by two fingers from Threadneedle Street!
This is why the proposal to ring-fence the retail banks is met be a resounding
raspberry from Throgmorton Avenue!
You
see, the City of London no longer needs the UK,
the boot is on the other foot, the UK needs the City! I used to
believe that the Government was Sovereign, that Parliament was the final
arbiter, and that confronted with a vague threat to 'take our business
elsewhere' if too much pressure was applied to the City institutions to reform
their game, was an empty threat, and I have previously urged the Government to
call their bluff!
But
I was wrong! The Government dare not call their bluff because the City of London isn't just a bunch
of buildings inside four postal codes; it is a concept of enormous power, an exclusive entity, a very private
members-only club into which outsiders are not invited to enter; it is a
powerful clique which exerts huge influence and pressure; it is a Mafia! Even
Her Majesty the Queen requests formal permission to enter the City of London on a special
formal occasion (permission is always granted)!
The City doesn't exist to support this country,
it exists for its own financial interests and the rest of us can go take a
hike! It could, within a relatively short space of time, go offshore itself,
indeed, it has already been described as the most powerful off-shore jurisdiction on earth! You
don't need to be a palm-fringed island in the Caribbean
to be an off-shore centre. The City has its own laws, and it only obeys those ones which
Parliament enacts, when it pleases the suits so to do!
The
amount of money that the City turns over each year is counted in Trillions of
Pounds. As a fee, tribute, (bribe) to the UK Government to allow them to
continue, the City contributes about 12% of the nation's GDP, in terms of the
tax it agrees to pay on such profits as it sees fit to declare. The rest of its
proceeds are very carefully squirreled away and are held in secure and
confidential circumstances, and no-one is going to examine them!
The
great financial crisis has brought the role of the City and its functions into
greater notice and under more scrutiny, but we should not hold our breath
hoping that Cameron or Osborne are going to do anything to bring this
criminogenic enterprise to heel! They simply do not have the power to do it,
and that is the problem.
When
the Prime Minister or the Chancellor go down to the City to speak at their
tables, you will note the degree of respect which is afforded to the men and
women in fancy dress! They have to be respectful, because the City might take
their ball away and go and play elsewhere, and they know that would be
disastrous for them.
So
they pay lip-service to the conventions, and they make sure they protect the City from any attempts
that somewhere called 'Brussels' might make to
impose their will on the City of London.
Transaction taxes! Not on your Nellie, monsieur. Capital adequacy rules! Only
if everyone else is signed up to the same calculations, mein herr! Anti-money laundering regulations! Now you
are being fanciful, old boy!
In a
time of the worst financial crisis any of us have ever experienced; at a time
when we can see no light at the end of the austerity tunnel, the City of London
continues to pursue its own path and writes
its own pay cheque! Don't expect it to change its ways, because this is how
it has always been done, the City of London
is another country, and it is immune from the ordinary rules of engagement that
attach to those outside the Square Mile.
