View Full Version : Twenty one trillion dollars safe in offshore banks, Phew !
G0GQK
07-23-2012, 08:37 PM
Assets of countries are held by a small number of wealthy people, while the debts of these countries are owned by the common, hard up, overworked, underpaid, jobless, and often homeless people via their governments.
Most of this "treasure"is owned by just 92,000 of the elite super rich, the 0.001 percent of the population of the world.
What I want to know is this. How can I join the 0.001 percent ?
http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/The_Price_of_Offshore_Revisited_Presser_120722.pdf
Mel G0GQK
All banks are off someone's shore aren't they?
I wish I had .001% of the .001% :P
K2ADK
07-23-2012, 09:05 PM
First, Mel, you'll need to get new parents. Make sure they're rich and are willing to send you to prestigious schools. Oh, and see that they have excellent connections in lucrative positions. Then, leave your scruples at the door and go to town!
What I want to know is this. How can I join the 0.001 percent ?
Easy, marry into it.
First you gotta find the right super wealthy individual though. I hear they love hanging out at bowling alleys on Saturday nights. They often are heard discussing carburetor problems in their Mini Coopers. When you hear them doing this, go in for, "the kill".
Remember, the wealthy love:
Charm
Personalty
Confidence
Hope to see you holidaying in the French Riviera soon.
Tom KCØW
You can't do it. First you have to LIE LIE LIE, deceive everyone you do business with, be ruthless and fire thousands of workers, take things that don't belong to you, and pay off the government officials so they don't throw you in jail. Only a total sociopath can make it into that club. Unfortunately in this world they win and the rest of us lose.
K1VSK
07-23-2012, 11:55 PM
One certainty is that no successful and affluent people ever got there by complaining about it.
K8ERV
07-24-2012, 01:14 AM
You can't do it. First you have to LIE LIE LIE, deceive everyone you do business with, be ruthless and fire thousands of workers, take things that don't belong to you, and pay off the government officials so they don't throw you in jail. Only a total sociopath can make it into that club. Unfortunately in this world they win and the rest of us lose.
WoW! Thanks for the great advice! Gonna start that project tomorrow-----
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
KF6ABU
07-24-2012, 05:01 AM
Be smart, and a good business person and you too can join them.
WA6MHZ
07-24-2012, 12:52 PM
If I had even .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000001% of that, I'd have a new FTdx5000 on the desk, and a SX-88 or 2 on the shelf!
If I had even .0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000001% of that...
To think I spent a minute calculating that out...
N0SYA
07-24-2012, 01:43 PM
Assets of countries are held by a small number of wealthy people, while the debts of these countries are owned by the common, hard up, overworked, underpaid, jobless, and often homeless people via their governments.
Most of this "treasure"is owned by just 92,000 of the elite super rich, the 0.001 percent of the population of the world.
What I want to know is this. How can I join the 0.001 percent ?
http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/The_Price_of_Offshore_Revisited_Presser_120722.pdf
Mel G0GQK
And most of it exists only as ones and zeros, bits in a databank. So I guess most of it is legal fiction, as is this supposed debt. Bits can be repaid with other bits, paper with ink on it can be repaid by other paper with ink on it. All you have to do is fire up the pc or printing press. Not like it's gold or anything.
W4HAY
07-24-2012, 02:37 PM
...What I want to know is this. How can I join the 0.001 percent ?
Quit whining and get to work!
WA6MHZ
07-24-2012, 02:58 PM
I am at work right now! And I would make more if I was working at a 7-11! That vid about Detroit shows that an average Auto Worker makes $130K a year and gets 7 weeks of vacation, plus incredible benefits and retirement. WOW! I sure chose the WRONG industry to get into!
I'd give a hundred bucks to be one of those multimillionaires!
G0GQK
07-24-2012, 09:07 PM
Thanks chaps for all your advice. Quit whineing and get to work ! I'm 74, Jesus, I have a hard enough time already getting jobs done ! Lie, Lie, Lie. How do you know I'm not the biggest liar on earth? I'm Mitt Romneys secret limey lovechild for goodness sake ! My parents long gone now, like me, were born with the shortest silver spoon possible.
Quite honestly, I've never been turned on by being the richest, most successful local boy makes good. If the UK had 50 million people like me it would have gone bust in 1960 ! All these millionaires, Elton John, Paul Mc Cartney, Elvis Presley, or any other millionaire you can name never a got a bent penny out of me, they made all their millions without any help from me !
Mel G0GQK
KF5LJW
07-24-2012, 09:17 PM
Pretty simple it is called motivation, passion, and long term planning. Not depend on anyone or anything for your own well being.
The working man works 40 hours per week, and plans how to afford a 6-pack on the weekend.
A wealthy man works every day and plans for his grand children retirement
Live below your means, find a career you are passionate about and want to put in 80 hours a week, and be in the top 5% of whatever you do for a living. . . Do that for 20 years and relax.
WA6TKD
07-24-2012, 10:02 PM
I've been very happy over most of my adult life (there was that starter wife thing), set reasonably goals, worked steady, changed jobs when I felt a better opportunity, lived within my means and now have been retired comfortably for five years. I never wanted for more then a secure middle class life and set my goals and expectations to match.
I was exposed to the wealthy class in my teen years when my mother remarried and over about 5 years found that many in the wealthy class felt no more happy and secure then most middle class I've known. Wealth carries it's own risks, fears, and concerns (like will their kids ever learn to support themselves?) and is not always all it is cracked up to be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying being poor has any advantages at all, but middle class has more then enough potential to lead to a happy and rewarding life.
Class warfare and class envy is really a big waste of one's time. The universe doesn't owe anyone anything and once one comes to that conclusion the sooner they can start taking constructive steps and good decisions and choices for one's own life.
K8ERV
07-24-2012, 10:20 PM
I was exposed to the wealthy class in my teen years when my mother remarried and over about 5 years found that many in the wealthy class felt no more happy and secure then most middle class I've known. Wealth carries it's own risks, fears, and concerns
.
Assuming good health, I think happiness comes from a BALANCE among: Money, Time, Desires. Too much of any one is not good. I think that having too much money is the main reason that celebs etc seem to have many problems.
Fortunately I have been able to obtain that balance thru most of my life.
I am lucky.
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
AJ4CU
07-25-2012, 12:35 AM
I am at work right now! And I would make more if I was working at a 7-11! That vid about Detroit shows that an average Auto Worker makes $130K a year and gets 7 weeks of vacation, plus incredible benefits and retirement. WOW! I sure chose the WRONG industry to get into!
What burns me up about those high paid autoworkers is this, A guy stands around waiting for the next body to move up, presses a button and a windshiled lowers, he grabs a couple handles and guides it into place and releases it, taps it a few times with a mallet and done, this clown is considered "skilled labor" and is paid stupid amounts, also I will never purchase a new car as long as it has a uaw sticker on it, nothing but a bunch of cry babies and gangsters.....
K1VSK
07-25-2012, 01:06 AM
What burns me up about those high paid autoworkers is this, A guy stands around waiting for the next body to move up, presses a button and a windshiled lowers, he grabs a couple handles and guides it into place and releases it, taps it a few times with a mallet and done, this clown is considered "skilled labor" and is paid stupid amounts, also I will never purchase a new car as long as it has a uaw sticker on it, nothing but a bunch of cry babies and gangsters.....
It's not limited to just that one union; they are all filled with parasites and guess for whom they vote
WA6TKD
07-25-2012, 01:35 AM
It's not limited to just that one union; they are all filled with parasites and guess for whom they vote
Well it's a pretty well known fact that the main reason the the government took control of GM (and now hold a lot of stock in the company) was to prevent a more economical bankruptcy process that but would have voided the UAW existing and retired benefit protections as well as their existing labor contract. This was a simple political payback to the UAW for continued support for the existing administration to protect the UAW's interests.
W2ILP
07-25-2012, 07:13 PM
I posted in another thread about two men who were wanted for criminal commodities trading activities and owed the US federal taxes. They were given a presidential pardon by Clinton during his last week in office...probably because the ex-wide of one of the men had been a donation collector for Clinton's party.
This stuff is not just economic. It is political...and maybe too political for the moderators.
The widening gap between the ultra wealthy and the middle class, as well as the loss of budget stability of many nations and uS states and cities can be traced to unlimited capitalism. Teddy Roosevelt knew that he had to take steps to limit the wealth of "railroad barons" such as Vanderbilt..but today if you speak of limiting the ultra wealthy you get called a communist.
The OWS 99% crowd have it right. The Tea Party folks are wrong because they want to eliminate or reduce entitlements for the poor and middle class without limiting the ultra wealthy. If the Tea Party has its way they will have solved nothing that is significant. The lop-sided world-wide distribution of wealth must be corrected by enforced taxation and income limitation. Without limitations the disparity will continue to increase.
Wex, w2ilp (I'd Limit Payola) World-wide banks and ultra rich individuals are holding all the real monopoly money. Wot a revoltin' development?!
N4BBQ
07-25-2012, 10:01 PM
The OWS 99% crowd have it right. The Tea Party folks are wrong because they want to eliminate or reduce entitlements for the poor and middle class without limiting the ultra wealthy. If the Tea Party has its way they will have solved nothing that is significant. The lop-sided world-wide distribution of wealth must be corrected by enforced taxation and income limitation. Without limitations the disparity will continue to increase.!
Something that gets me is how a lot of folks keep yelling about wanting a smaller gub'mit. A small gub'mit will make me richer. I think that's poppycock.
A poor man don't need highways, poilcemen, fireman, schools, nor armies. The rich folks are the ones that need all that stuff. The need highways so their employees can get to work and keep building the widgets that make the rich dude rich. The rich folks need schools so their poor employees can read the manual on how to assemble the widgets that keep the rich dude rich. The rich dude also needs the gub'mit to keep a large army so resources are under control, then they need a police force and a court system to enforce these rules over all these poor folks.
The Great Holy Father (Ronald Not McDonald) somehow convinced a lot of us dummies that we could be rich if they'd we just worked our butts off. Sorry, but most of us dummies will never be rich no matter how hard (or how many jobs) we work. AND, I say the rich people need to pay for the benefits of us dummies. That way, we'll stay healthy enough to keep coming to work and keep them rich.
The rich need to be happy to pay taxes and keep their money HERE IN AMERICA. They owe their country.
K8MHZ
07-25-2012, 10:13 PM
Something that gets me is how a lot of folks keep yelling about wanting a smaller gub'mit. A small gub'mit will make me richer. I think that's poppycock.
A poor man don't need highways, poilcemen, fireman, schools, nor armies. The rich folks are the ones that need all that stuff. The need highways so their employees can get to work and keep building the widgets that make the rich dude rich. The rich folks need schools so their poor employees can read the manual on how to assemble the widgets that keep the rich dude rich. The rich dude also needs the gub'mit to keep a large army so resources are under control, then they need a police force and a court system to enforce these rules over all these poor folks.
The Great Holy Father (Ronald Not McDonald) somehow convinced a lot of us dummies that we could be rich if they'd we just worked our butts off. Sorry, but most of us dummies will never be rich no matter how hard (or how many jobs) we work. AND, I say the rich people need to pay for the benefits of us dummies. That way, we'll stay healthy enough to keep coming to work and keep them rich.
The rich need to be happy to pay taxes and keep their money HERE IN AMERICA. They owe their country.
I would have to say that's one of the most profound things I have come across in quite a while. A little rough around the edges. But, that may be intended to be part of the appeal.
A flag and some patriotic music with it would be cool!
K8MHZ
07-25-2012, 10:17 PM
Mr. Morlock.... I would like you to meet your new boss, Ms. Eloi.
K0RGR
07-25-2012, 10:59 PM
UH.... here we go with the self made man argument again.
America is still the land of opportunity, although there is considerable evidence that upward mobility has become harder here than in the past. Still, if you build a better mousetrap, and manage to get it to market without someone stealing your idea, or buying it for a very low price, if you persevere in the face of low cost illegal copies from Asia, if a Wall Street investment firm doesn't buy a majority interest in your company and then shut it down so it won't compete with their mousetrap company, if you can buy your way onto the supermarket shelves next to the other mousetraps, you might have a profitable business. Now, you may have to give a really big part of that income to the government, and you will probably have to spend some of it to meet their regulations. A lot of what's left goes for employee salaries and benefits, and to settle all the lawsuits from the people that tried to screw you over along the way, but weren't able to without a lawyer.
If you can overcome all of that, you are a member of the 'Entrepreneur' class. Hurrah! I absolutely agree that you deserve a medal!
N4BBQ
07-26-2012, 08:19 PM
Another update. I love the way she words the article.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/offshore-wealth-global-economy-tax-havens
K8ERV
07-26-2012, 11:55 PM
To think I spent a minute calculating that out...
He should have used scientific notation. I can't count that many zeros.
Oh, and which offshore bank should I use for my trillion? I would not want to overload the system.
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
W2ILP
07-27-2012, 12:29 AM
It is not the size of our government but the mission of our government that counts. There must be enforcement of ethical laws...without undue limitation of individual rights. This can not be accomplished without government.
You guys who witness union factory workers who can earn more than you while doing unskilled work...might also know that there are also some unions that make "sweetheart' contracts that agree to pay workers far less than they are worth.
You see such inequities because you see poverty and middle class folks who may be living in or near your own neighborhoods BUT you don't see the idle billionaires or trilionaires who are probably hiding in Switzerland or sailing on their yachts. If you did you would be more inclined to be more jealous of them than of middle class factory workers....who do repetitive unskilled or semiskilled tasks five days a week.
The truth is in the document that was presented at the start of this thread...but have you all read it? Perhaps not... because this thread has wandered very far from the original subject...I think...
Wex, w2ilp (Inequitable Lost Point)
N4BBQ
07-27-2012, 11:09 AM
The truth is in the document that was presented at the start of this thread...but have you all read it? Perhaps not... because this thread has wandered very far from the original subject...I think...
When doesn't it? You can post a question about a 3-500Z and within ten posts, someone will be talking about the color of their VW Bug's upholstery. This is THE ZED. :)
People that shelter their fortunes offshore are like people that sneak into a ball game in my opinion, and they're a lot more disgusting to me than a person that uses the system to get more "welfare" each month.
K8ERV
07-27-2012, 12:21 PM
People that shelter their fortunes offshore are like people that sneak into a ball game in my opinion, and they're a lot more disgusting to me than a person that uses the system to get more "welfare" each month.
I have a slightly different take on this.
I think that IN GENERAL when a person goes to great lengths to avoid a situation, the problem may well be with the
situation.
While this may have been a personal opinion and not an official proclamation, way back one of the Chief Justices said "It is not illegal for a person to arrange their finances for the minimum payment of taxes" or similar.
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
N4BBQ
07-27-2012, 01:11 PM
I have a slightly different take on this.
I think that IN GENERAL when a person goes to great lengths to avoid a situation, the problem may well be with the
situation.
While this may have been a personal opinion and not an official proclamation, way back one of the Chief Justices said "It is not illegal for a person to arrange their finances for the minimum payment of taxes" or similar.
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
I see your point but they don't seem to mind all the perks that come along side the "situation" they are avoiding.
K8ERV
07-27-2012, 01:28 PM
I see your point but they don't seem to mind all the perks that come along side the "situation" they are avoiding.
Yup
TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo
There will always be those that "have" and those that "have not". It's the way of things.
Utopia doesn't exist.
Why do we fret?
K1VSK
07-28-2012, 01:06 AM
People that shelter their fortunes offshore are like people that sneak into a ball game in my opinion, and they're a lot more disgusting to me than a person that uses the system to get more "welfare" each month.
So how do you feel about a government tax program that creates the incentive for people to shelter money? Time to consider the real problem here - taxing corporations and personal wealth to the extent it is driven out of the U.S. That is the problem.
N4BBQ
07-28-2012, 10:46 AM
So how do you feel about a government tax program that creates the incentive for people to shelter money? Time to consider the real problem here - taxing corporations and personal wealth to the extent it is driven out of the U.S. That is the problem.
I didn't realize corporations were falling apart from all the taxes. It seems to me I read a lot more stories of how little taxes corporations pay?
I pretty much feel to make a country "wealthy" is you find ways to put more money into the hands of the middle class.
I guess the rich get rich & stay rich by being able to hire enough laywers and accountants to help them stay rich by jumping through these hoops, but little ole me won't have to worry about all that unless I inherit that 5,000,000 euros from that Nigerian Missionary that keeps sending me e-mails. :)
