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Super rich hold $32 trillion in offshore havens

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Super rich hold $32 trillion in offshore havens - Yahoo! News

LONDON (Reuters) - Rich individuals and their families have as much as $32 trillion of hidden financial assets in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenues, according to research published on Sunday.

The study estimating the extent of global private financial wealth held in offshore accounts - excluding non-financial assets such as real estate, gold, yachts and racehorses - puts the sum at between $21 and $32 trillion.

So is this fair capitalism or are the rich just using the system to amass and hoard wealth for the sake of it?
 
This is the perfect application of The Golden Rule.

And this report will mean nothing other than fodder for right wing talking points about those who would demonize success and have us marching to a communist nirvana.
 
The money belongs to them, not the government. That so much wealth is being hidden rather than put to use is not evidence of the failure of capitalism, but of the destructive and counterproductive nature of the state.

I didn't say it belonged to the government. But for there to be that much topsided gain, the system is being rigged by those with power and influence to favor an ever growing increase for them at the expense of the masses.
 
Super rich hold $32 trillion in offshore havens - Yahoo! News



So is this fair capitalism or are the rich just using the system to amass and hoard wealth for the sake of it?


Hm. Just out of curiosity I did some math...

There are about 115 million households in the USA. 32 Trillion / 115 million = $278,260

That would mean they are holding $278,260 for every household in the USA.


Any way you slice it that seems excessive.
 
Super rich hold $32 trillion in offshore havens - Yahoo! News



So is this fair capitalism or are the rich just using the system to amass and hoard wealth for the sake of it?

First of all, these are global numbers- so nothing about "capitalism" can be inferred from the data.

Second of all, so what? I think the erroneous premises here are two fold: 1) That "hoarding" is bad, 2) that the purpose of offshore savings accounts is "hiding" the money "for the sake of it."

Thirdly, since every country taxes differently, these numbers are meaningless.
 
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Hm. Just out of curiosity I did some math...

There are about 115 million households in the USA. 32 Trillion / 115 million = $278,260

That would mean they are holding $278,260 for every household in the USA.


Any way you slice it that seems excessive.

It applies to MORE than just the USA...... from the article

The study estimating the extent of global private financial wealth held in offshore accounts - excluding non-financial assets such as real estate, gold, yachts and racehorses - puts the sum at between $21 and $32 trillion.
 
I didn't say it belonged to the government. But for there to be that much topsided gain, the system is being rigged by those with power and influence to favor an ever growing increase for them at the expense of the masses.

Except it is not at the expense of the masses.

The economy is not a closed system. Just because one person has more, does not mean someone else has to have less.
 
In contrast to the 32 trillion dollars in wealth held by the rich:

15 million children starve to death every year worldwide.
500 million people in Asia, Africa and Latin America live in poverty.
1/12 people in the world are malnourished.
Half the world's population lives in abject poverty.

But that's all okay because the rich get to keep their money and it eventually trickles down somehow.
 
Hm. Just out of curiosity I did some math...

There are about 115 million households in the USA. 32 Trillion / 115 million = $278,260

That would mean they are holding $278,260 for every household in the USA.


Any way you slice it that seems excessive.

problem is 32 trillion isnt for america,its worldwide across 139 developing nations.
 
I didn't say it belonged to the government. But for there to be that much topsided gain, the system is being rigged by those with power and influence to favor an ever growing increase for them at the expense of the masses.
Or...they earned money and based on the completely inane management of the US federal government over the last 12-20 years, decide securing a significant portion of their wealth in more secure markets makes sense...whatever.

Hell...this is how the Kennedy's secured their wealth since the 40's. Wealthy people dont stay wealthy by being stupid and trusting the federal government and monetary system to people that have managed to amass 16 trillion in debt and climbing and who cant even manage to pass a simple budget would be...well...stupid.
 
Except it is not at the expense of the masses.

The economy is not a closed system. Just because one person has more, does not mean someone else has to have less.

An economic system can always grow and add wealth but it shouldn't beyond what its market valuation represents. With expanding credit and exotic investments there becomes an increasing difference between the real and nominal value, which can "pop" creating a vacuum of loss. This is always at the expense of another. The wealthy fix prices, create supply/demand and NOW control the regulation of these principles. It's an imbalance that will continue, till there's only a small minority of extremely wealthy, their small army of supporters and the majority of poor slobs. This IS happening.
 
problem is 32 trillion isnt for america,its worldwide across 139 developing nations.

It also isn't counting their open or "legitimately held" wealth either.

The GDP of the whole frickin' world is something like 65 Trillion. If the "super rich" are holding something like half the world's annual gross product in untaxed offshore accounts, yeah there's a problem.

I begrudge no man a reasonable profit or a fat portfolio and a wealthy lifestyle... but damn, half the wealth in the world seems excessive even to me.
 
An economic system can always grow and add wealth but it shouldn't beyond what its market valuation represents. With expanding credit and exotic investments there becomes an increasing difference between the real and nominal value, which can "pop" creating a vacuum of loss. This is always at the expense of another. The wealthy fix prices, create supply/demand and NOW control the regulation of these principles. It's an imbalance that will continue, till there's only a small minority of extremely wealthy, their small army of supporters and the majority of poor slobs. This IS happening.
How does their amassing wealth...hell...even if they burned it...how would it impact YOUR ability to amass wealth? Fact is...it wouldnt. We saw people lose their asses in stockholdings in seconds over the last several years. And?
 
It also isn't counting their open or "legitimately held" wealth either.

The GDP of the whole frickin' world is something like 65 Trillion. If the "super rich" are holding something like half the world's annual gross product in untaxed offshore accounts, yeah there's a problem.

I begrudge no man a reasonable profit or a fat portfolio and a wealthy lifestyle... but damn, half the wealth in the world seems excessive even to me.
If you had 3 trillion ( or even a few extra billion) in excess wealth would YOU leave it in US holdings? Seriously...would YOU trust the US markets, managers, government? Not me. Id be securing as much of it as I could for as long as I could to ensure that no matter what, the earnings I have created were not subjected to whims and mismanagement.
 
If you had 3 trillion ( or even a few extra billion) in excess wealth would YOU leave it in US holdings? Seriously...would YOU trust the US markets, managers, government? Not me. Id be securing as much of it as I could for as long as I could to ensure that no matter what, the earnings I have created were not subjected to whims and mismanagement.

I'm sure they have their justifications. That doesn't make it right, though.

Most people will never see a million dollars in one place at one time, that is theirs. A billion is a thousand million. A trillion is a thousand billion... a million million.

Again, I begrudge no man a big paycheck, a McMansion and a fat portfolio.... but isn't there a point where it gets a little ridiculous? Once you have a couple hundred million, more isn't about wealth it is about power. Power and status.

I know economics is not a zero-sum game... wealth can be created or destroyed. But if somewhere near half the world's GDP is being held in offshore accounts, there ain't much "trickle down" going on!
 
How does their amassing wealth...hell...even if they burned it...how would it impact YOUR ability to amass wealth? Fact is...it wouldnt. We saw people lose their asses in stockholdings in seconds over the last several years. And?

The bankers robbed everyone of hundreds of billions, then went to the government and said, unless you give us another trillion or two we'll collapse the whole system. That bailout money was the tax payers.

What the rich do is put out a bag with $100 of their money and tell everyone they've got it in a real good investment. Other people add a few dollars here and there, till the bag is stuffed with cash. The rich who put the original $100 in take a few thousand out leaving everyone else to divvy up what's left. That's less money for everyone else to spend in a system shrinking in debt from sticky fingered hoarders.

They ship out jobs for profit, won't increase pay or benefits and cry poor mouth, while stuffing their bank accounts.
They rob me with rent/mortgage, fuel and food costs, cable and cell bills, energy and water, insurance and medical, etc etc.

I don't want to necessarily amass wealth, I just want to survive.
 
The government collects taxes on foreign bank accounts.
Like someone said: take all of the rich peoples money and the money will last about a week. Then we can be like Cuba.
 
In contrast to the 32 trillion dollars in wealth held by the rich:

15 million children starve to death every year worldwide.
500 million people in Asia, Africa and Latin America live in poverty.
1/12 people in the world are malnourished.
Half the world's population lives in abject poverty.

But that's all okay because the rich get to keep their money and it eventually trickles down somehow.
What is this? An appeal to emotion?

To your stats, so what?

It isn't the responsibility of those who have wealth to take care of those who don't.
 
They do not rob you.
That is hyperbole.

Sure they do. There is no competitive pricing in the areas of cost I mentioned. I have no problem with anybody making more money than others in a level playing field but the elite have leveraged everything in their favor and that's a fact. Their greed is blinding their reason and eventually they'll squeeze the system, till it breaks. Almost did it in 2008 and the fix was temporary.
 
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-- It isn't the responsibility of those who have wealth to take care of those who don't.

No it isn't but the article is about some people avoiding paying their share of tax. I'm a strong believer in rewarding entrepreneurship and hard work but I also think people should pay their fair taxes. I know "fair" can be very subjective but the article is about the amount of money that people are hiding.
 
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