The Internet practically exploded this morning after a detailed report was published proving that dozens of corrupt politicians around the world have been stealing public funds and hiding the loot overseas.
In other news, the Pope is Catholic.
Not to make light of this, but this hardly comes as a surprise. There’s some Grade A filth in positions of power who routinely funnel public funds into their own pockets.
Whether they secret the funds offshore, buy expensive flats in London, purchase Bitcoin, or stuff cash under their mattresses seems hardly relevant.
The real issue is that systems of government routinely put morally bankrupt individuals in control of trillions of dollars of cash.
Seriously, what do people expect is going to happen?
Yet this never seems to be concern. The media outcry always seems to focus on the manner in which public officials hide their assets, not the fact that the funds were stolen to begin with.
This report targets the illicit use of offshore corporations, specifically those set up by a single law firm in Panama.
In reality, this issue hardly boils down to one firm.
There are thousands of law firms all around the world, including in the UK and the United States, that register companies for their clients.
Some of those companies end up being used for nefarious purposes, including fraud and theft.
But it’s crazy to presume that corrupt officials and con artists are the only ones who would ever need a company in one of these “shady” jurisdictions.
(Those “shady” jurisdictions, by the way, include Wyoming, South Dakota, and Delaware.)
Alongside the report is a video with a scantily clad porno actress named Lisa Ann, star of “Who’s Nailin’ Paylin,” a satire in which Ms. Ann spoofs former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin engaged in sexual… congress.
No I am not making this up.
In her video, the porn starlet explains that only arms dealers and scumbags set up asset protect vehicles like anonymous shell companies, which can include something like a Delaware LLC.
Never mind that people in the Land of the Free are living in the most litigious society in human history.
Or that last year the US government stole more money and private property from its citizens through civil asset forfeiture than all the thieves and felons in the country combined.
Given such obvious realities, you’d have to be crazy to NOT take steps to protect your savings.
But if a porn star says that you’re a scumbag who ‘gets in the way of justice’ by setting up a Delaware LLC to safeguard your assets and reduce your legal liability, it must be true.
So let it be written.
Look, the anger and disgust of seeing corrupt people getting away with a crime is understandable, particularly when that crime is stealing from taxpayers.
But nobody ever seems to attack the real problem– that these people are ever put in positions enabling them to steal taxpayer funds to begin with.
Instead the spotlight is always on how they hide it. That’s like focusing on what color T-shirt the ax murderer was wearing.
My concern is that is if corrupt officials shift tactics and start buying gold, there will be calls to outlaw gold. Or if they start holding cash, there will be even louder calls to ban cash.
These reports are incredibly damning for the dozens, even hundreds or thousands of bad actors who abuse the system.
But at the same time they create a mass hysteria that puts law-abiding taxpayers who value their financial privacy into the same category as some corrupt African dictator.
Listen in to today’s podcast as we discuss this trend even more, what I call the “New Dark Ages”.
We’ve entered a time where privacy and personal freedom are trivial inconveniences rather than the bedrock cultural values they used to be.
For example, I question when our society degenerated to the point that a porn star gets to tell us what we should and should not be able to do with our own private property. . .
I’d advise you to turn DOWN the volume. This podcast is probably the most intense I’ve ever done. Listen in here.
