Broadcasting House, London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a truly amazing story from the BBC. Check it out!

BBC News – Tax havens: Super-rich ‘hiding’ at least $21tn.

The story is politically super-charged, ahead of the US Presidential election, which seems to be dominated by polarized positions of both left and right. Why should the average citizen be confronted with austerity and related misery, whilst the super-rich look to tax havens?

There is increasing evidence from liberal, Nobel winning economist Paul Krugman, in his NYT blog, that the divide between the super-rich and the poor has increased enormously in the last twenty years, largely from fortunes made in Financial Services or real estate, rather than industries that promote jobs, like manufacturing. Apart from tax havens, the super-rich in the US are paying lower taxes than their parents twenty years ago.

The story will also be an embarrassment for David Cameron, where the UK is now seen as increasingly divided between the super-rich and their friends in the political classes, compared to the broad cross-section of society who are worried about their families’ futures.

The big loser in Anglo-Saxon countries, like the US and the UK, has been the middle classes over the last twenty years. Sadly, for many, the American Dream is dead, and there are increasing concerns about the plague of youth unemployment.

What do you think?

Related articles

• The great Olympic tax swindle (blogs.independent.co.uk)
• Who’s Very Important? – Paul Krugman – NYTimes.com (dralfoldman.com)
• £13tn: hoard hidden from taxman by global elite | Business | The Observer (2012indyinfo.com)
• Report: at least $20.3 trillion hidden in offshore banks by global elite (EndtheLie.com)
• Romney’s Donors Share His Love of Offshore Tax Havens (thenation.com)
• Senate Democrats Press Candidate ‘Tax Havens’ Disclosure – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• £13 Trillion (21 Trillon US Dollars) : Hoard Hidden From Taxman By Global Elite – 22 July 2012 (lucas2012infos.wordpress.com)
• Tories grilled on tax havens (express.co.uk)
• The Role of Tax Havens in the Global Economy (taxprof.typepad.com)
• Lindsey Graham Defends Romney’s Offshore Tax Havens (mariopiperni.com)
• Romney’s offshore tax havens (proglib.newsvine.com)