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[Kthulhu]

He continues to deliver evidence that he was on issues years ago, but there is still the weird no-experience narrative going on.

He's ahead of the curve. If he doesn't win the primary/presidency, someone like him will in the near future.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

Clearly this is all a US plot to conduct a coup in Iceland and install CIA puppets the Pirate Party. Also an information attack on eternal enemies of Amerikkka David Cameron and Petro Poroshenko.

 

[D4Danger]

As if you needed any more proof that David Cameron is an abhorrent cunt. Just weeks ago he's defending cuts to the most vulnerable people in our country meanwhile he and his family have been dodging taxes for decades. How anyone can vote for these people is beyond me.

 

[cacildo]

According to wikileaks this was orchestrated by Soros and USAID to mainly tarnish the BRICS members. That explains the lack of North Americans on the lists.

https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717454569861611520?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717753531483168768?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
https://mobile.twitter.com/wikileaks/status/717670056650530816

Well.. its a shame

 

[chadskin]

It sounds like the outlets were not given first hand access to the data and depended heavily on the ICIJ. In other words, the ICIJ could have decided which files to send and which files to omit and no one would be the wiser.

No.

To make all the information accessible to more than 400 journalists, Cabra said the files were uploaded to Amazon, a lengthy process, but not as time-consuming as sorting data into searchable formats.

All the software used was open source, tweaked to suit the reporters’ needs. The search tool, allowing reporters to hunt for names like Putin or places like the British Virgin Isles, was based on Apache Solr, used by a large number of search-heavy organizations, including DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused tool. Solr was combined with Apache’s Tika, an indexing software that can parse different file types, be they PDFs or emails as in the Panama Papers, drawing out the text from the non-essential data. Layered on top was the shiny interface, built using Blacklight, another open source development.

Once built, more than 400 reporters, who would meet in person at events organized by SZ and the ICIJ throughout 2015 and 2016, only needed the link and a randomly-generated password to start rummaging around the Panama Papers for leads. Outside of security against brute force guessing of usernames and passwords, there was no other access protection, though anyone communicating with the site did so over encrypted lines using the SSL protocol, just as cryptographically-protected websites from banks to Facebook do.

To understand what they were looking at, the reporters could use integrated data visualization, running on a mix of graph database tech Neo4j with Linkurious made the job of making connections between files easier.

A separate site, a “virtual newsroom” as Cabra called it, did include an extra protection: two-factor authentication using Google Authenticator, providing an additional one-time code to enter after the password was provided. In that space, reporters could update colleagues with their latest story ideas, all delivered via a Facebook-like newsfeed, whilst using the chat feature for further collaboration. Again, the social network was constructed on open source software, Oxwall.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasb...ers-amazon-encryption-epic-leak/#20dc313a1df5

Let me address this once more:
1) It's rather obvious WikiLeaks is desperate for attention and money. Pre-release of the papers, they conveyed the impression they had them in their possession. They don't, as it turned out, otherwise they would have released them already.
2) WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison helped Snowden to get to Russia, yet neither WikiLeaks nor Glenn Greenwald have released all the NSA documents either. Hypocritical.
3) Having an offshore company is not illegal; hence it's highly questionable whether it's appropriate to publish copies of ID cards, social security numbers, bank account statements, addresses and the like of people who a) may not have done anything wrong legally and b) who are not of higher public interest.
4) A database of all 215.000 companies and the names of those who own them will be made available in early May.

Regarding the WikiLeaks tweets:
1) Yes, OCCRP is partially funded by USAID and the Open Society Foundation, that's hardly a secret since it's on literally every single page in the bottom right corner
2) OCCRP is, like The Guardian, the BBC or Le Monde, one of the reporting partners. Neither did they receive the documents originally (Süddeutsche Zeitung) nor did they set up the virtual newsroom and databases for the news organizations to work on them (ICIJ)
3) OCCRP's mission statement is fighting corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, hardly a surprise that these regions are their focus
4) ICIJ is a project of the Center for Public Integrity which has dozens upon dozens of funders and donors, e.g. including the Omidyar Network of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar whose First Look Media is the publisher of Glenn Greenwald's The Intercept

It should come as no surprise to anyone that those nations who rank poorly on the Transparency International Perceived Corruption Index are at forefront of these revelations, either.

And as has already been said as well:
1) Mossack Fonseca is only the fourth-largest provider of offshore services
2) Panama is one of 80 tax havens in the world
3) Panama is only the 13th most attractive tax haven, with the US being the 3rd most attractive

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

Clearly this is all a US plot to conduct a coup in Iceland and install CIA puppets the Pirate Party. Also an information attack on eternal enemies of Amerikkka David Cameron and Petro Poroshenko.

The nu-left will do anything to protect Putin-senpai.

 

[Deleted member 13876]

So reading the article about how lax M-F's security was and is, could it be possible all of the data still gets leaked through other instances interested in exposing this? I also wonder if the other big offshore enablers now have bigger targets on their backs.

hence it's highly questionable whether it's appropriate to publish copies of ID cards, social security numbers, bank account statements, addresses and the like of people who a) may not have done anything wrong legally and b) who are not of higher public interest.

This is a very legitimate point as to whether or not this is a good thing though.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

The nu-left will do anything to protect Putin-senpai.

They have a persecution complex but it's not even their own - it's one they've appropriated from a tiny ultra-corrupt Russian elite. An elite that is pretty much a manifestation of everything that they (ostensibly) despise, yet they fall over themselves to carry water for said elite at every opportunity.

It's absurd.

 

[Foffy]

You all know I just had to post this from The Guardian.

The Panama Papers prove it: we can afford a universal basic income.

Some interesting quotes..

Called a universal basic income by supporters, the idea has has attracted support throughout American history, from Thomas Paine to Martin Luther King Jr. But it has also faced unending criticism for one particular reason: the advocates of “austerity” say we simply can’t afford it – or any other dramatic spending on social security.

That argument dissolved this week with the release of the Panama Papers, which reveal the elaborate methods used by the wealthy to avoid paying back the societies that helped them to gain their wealth in the first place.

But while working and middle-class families pay their taxes or face consequences, the Panama Papers remind us that the worst of the 1% have, for years, essentially been stealing access to Americans’ common birthright, and to the benefits of our shared endeavors.

Worse, many of those same global elite have argued that we cannot afford to provide education, healthcare or a basic standard of living for all, much less eradicate poverty or dramatically enhance the social safety net by guaranteeing every American a subsistence-level income.

Enough. We have the money to solve our problems. The first step is to stop the global elite from hoarding and hiding it. Cracking down on tax evasion alone will not fund all our priorities, but the Panama Papers do put the lie to the politics of austerity.

Truly hoping this becomes a beacon to getting us on the track for a more accountable, humane society, because if this doesn't, how the fuck will the risk of technological employment do it?

Please, fam.

 

[Gutek]

STOP STEALING FROM US, YOU SICK FUCKS!

 

[jellies_two]

the problem Cameron and the conservative party have now is nothing they say about offshore tax dodges can be believed. I mean he basically lobbied for TRUSTS to be exempted from a registrar of interests that the EU wanted to create!

This whole thing is another lesson, as if we needed it, on how rotten the current system of politics and capitalism is. It is no wonder we're destroying the planet as fast as we possibly can.

 

[Foffy]

the problem Cameron and the conservative party have now is nothing they say about offshore tax dodges can be believed. I mean he basically lobbied for TRUSTS to be exempted from a registrar of interests that the EU wanted to create!

This whole thing is another lesson, as if we needed it, on how rotten the current system of politics and capitalism is. It is no wonder we're destroying the planet as fast as we possibly can.

No regard for the "other", so it's time to feed and bloat the "self".

Of course, this will kill the self as much as it kills the other, for these damn fool realize these are implied to be one collective of humanity, not two.

 

[Dabanton]

As if you needed any more proof that David Cameron is an abhorrent cunt. Just weeks ago he's defending cuts to the most vulnerable people in our country meanwhile he and his family have been dodging taxes for decades. How anyone can vote for these people is beyond me.

People make a bit of money and think they can be like Cameron and his ilk.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

And we fucking re-elected them. Also, is it wrong to hope that some dirt will be dug up on Hillary Clinton? I doubt that she wouldn't be implicated in this.

Not wrong, but (and I'll let our resident rich bastard mod sum it up)

I don't think most people realize that like 95% of the "protections" rich people get in there can be achieved just by incorporating in the state of Delaware. I think that's why we're slow to see Americans implicated.

 

[Foffy]

I don't understand the article, but I skimmed it and am missing something.

The writer says that a program will cost 500bn/year in the US, but where is the money coming from? The 2trillion figure quoted, if I'm not mistaken, is a worldwide figure. For us to get the much money, most of the money would have to be from US people (like 75-80%).

I'm not understanding how this "proves" anything except what everyone already knows already - tax havens and tax sheltering are obvious and expected results of humans in an economy.

People often argue that we lack the money, and we don't, even if such a program doesn't retrofit the whole welfare state.

Also, that figure I believe is specifically to America, and that's the largest without any sort of trimming and ending failed programs and ones that would be deemed obsolete with a basic income. The burden has always been the upfront cost to make a system, but, whether or not one wishes to admit today, it must be implemented in any country worth a shit potentially this century, because of the big shit at risk otherwise.

The article was trying to highlight in slimed money alone, this program in its basic generalities could be funded, so arguments of "what money" is no longer relevant. It's more of devising a model that encompasses its given country humanely, so the psychological bullshit can be put away.

 

[Audioboxer]

Hope all of this can full on public leak. From what I've read so far I'm a little pessimistic it's all tied up with specific journalists. Dislike having the paranoia that even they will cover up some findings and not release.

Either way without proof we still know the world is fucked, and many of the wealthy are inhumane assholes.

 

[Kyzer]

USA should declare Panama a state and that they're seizing all assets and that if anybodys got a problem with that they can speak with President Trump

 

[jellies_two]

Any corporation can decide on its own profit, by legally creating offshore entities and transfer pricing the hell out of its own increasingly virtual product. And anyone or any family to be big enough to be a corporation (like David Cameron) can and does do the same thing.

So we've create a system where the average working family pays the public tax rates and are severely punished if they cheat on a deduction for a home office or a bookshelf, and the hyper wealthy pay whatever their conscious dictates, from zero on upwards.

 

[Foffy]

But the money isn't there, even by the paper's standard, because it's global elite figures not US elite figures.

I mean, I think we could afford it, but we would have to tax everyone, including those making 100k+, more.

I just don't see how the numbers add up in that article. None of the people in other countries have an obligation to give America money for a welfare program.

The money isn't there, but it's because we don't have the sheltered money. There's just no way to prevent tax avoidance. We could remedy this with higher personal taxes overall, but socialism isn't something most people want to practice in the US. It would take a major cultural shift, and even then would have to be done incrementally (small sales tax increase, taking away certain credits, etc).

The point, and I may have overlooked it in my last reply, was that our blockage on such a program is more on how it's devised, not if it can even be devised. If we closed the door on this and had the top be less greedy, we could absolutely begin to fix some major problems that we feel only money can fix. But even if that wasn't the way, we do have way of retrofitting the present system. This is just more of a reminder that so much has been slimed off it can literally finance parts of the world to be better off and not just sat doing nothing. Austerity as an answer should not be seen as reasonable, but as abuse and bullshit under any context, and the article tries to give more ammo to its absurdity.

You would be amazed at how people roll their eyes at such a system as even being hypothetically plausible because of the money issue. Our real issues are psychological, cultural, and egocentric. Fuck, you would be enraged at how many people think if you don't work, you have no right to eat. It's dreadful.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Clearly this is all a US plot to conduct a coup in Iceland and install CIA puppets the Pirate Party. Also an information attack on eternal enemies of Amerikkka David Cameron and Petro Poroshenko.

No, it about taking over cana-

I KNOW NOTHING

 

[cacildo]

Hope all of this can full on public leak. From what I've read so far I'm a little pessimistic it's all tied up with specific journalists.

The brazilian news outlet tied to this project are - on the lack of a better term - shady as fuck

Thats why i dont exactly trust all this

 

[1.21Gigawatts]

It sounds like the outlets were not given first hand access to the data and depended heavily on the ICIJ. In other words, the ICIJ could have decided which files to send and which files to omit and no one would be the wiser.

No, thats not how it works.
There is too much data for anyone to read through everything and categorize it.
They went about this differently. They treated the data in order to be able perform searches and then they searched for names and if they found matches they read these documents.

Every involved journalist has access to all the data, but they all work on different cases and therefore search for different things.

To deliberately omit documents with certain people mentioned in them is not something the ICIJ could have done.

So far it also doesn't look like the leaks are particularly one sided.
Also, Süddeutsche Zeitung has no involvement with Soros and co. whatsoever. (They're also the best newspaper I know off, I know pretty many every significant german or english newspaper)
They're neither particularly pro US nor pro anyone else.

Keep in mind: This firm was only one of many. Certain people not appearing in the leaked data is a coincidence, but not a particularly unlikely one.

 

[Red Devil]

The brazilian news outlet tied to this project are - on the lack of a better term - shady as fuck

Thats why i dont exactly trust all this

Same with the ones from Argentina, they didn't report on Macri one of the names involved with this, it was actually a foreign newspaper.

 

[Brazil]

The brazilian news outlet tied to this project are - on the lack of a better term - shady as fuck

Thats why i dont exactly trust all this

Out of curiosity, which Brazilian vehicles would you consider trustworthy for something like this?

 

[casiopao]

I'm glad to see some citizens benefiting from this leak. This thief could have become governor of one of the largest cities in the world. My thirst for blood hasn't been quenched yet and another thief may take his place. But good riddance to bad rubbish. I'm happy.

Out of curiosity, what do you think will happen to him? I know that, for example, Indonesia has some of the strictest drug laws in the world (it was in international media like a year ago). Does that tough on crime attitude only apply to drug dealers or can it also apply to the elite (lol)? How is corruption handled in Indonesia?

Well drug laws is indeed becoming much much stricter this time with our new president. As he considered drug is the nation emergency problem which need to be addressed at all costs. Hell as we are talking right now, the third batches of death penalty is being prepared. If i am not wrong at least around 12 people is on the dead row now.

Corruption in indonesia? Hahahhah.TT Our country gives almost no cares for corruption. U can corrupt and get caught for many 1 to 2 years in jail and in like 5 years, u can return and tries ur luck to be another government officials. Money wins almost all here. From the police, law firms to judges all can be bought as long as u had the money.>~<

 

[cacildo]

Out of curiosity, which Brazilian vehicles would you consider trustworthy for something like this?

Not UOL for starters

Brazilian media is fox news: Brasil is the incredible country in which every tv channel, every news paper, every news magazine is Fox News

They should create a pool of freelancer journalists for this. Without the heavy hand of the 6 families that dominate brazilian media today

 

[Mr. Blonde]

But the money isn't there, even by the paper's standard, because it's global elite figures not US elite figures.

I mean, I think we could afford it, but we would have to tax everyone, including those making 100k+, more.

I just don't see how the numbers add up in that article. None of the people in other countries have an obligation to give America money for a welfare program.

The money isn't there, but it's because we don't have the sheltered money. There's just no way to prevent tax avoidance. We could remedy this with higher personal taxes overall, but socialism isn't something most people want to practice in the US. It would take a major cultural shift, and even then would have to be done incrementally (small sales tax increase, taking away certain credits, etc).

Another reason the math doesnt work is because the article confuses "assets" with "income" unless they plan on making the wealthy surrender their assets to fund a minimum income.

 

[Walpurgis]

No.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasb...ers-amazon-encryption-epic-leak/#20dc313a1df5

Let me address this once more:
1) It's rather obvious WikiLeaks is desperate for attention and money. Pre-release of the papers, they conveyed the impression they had them in their possession. They don't, as it turned out, otherwise they would have released them already.
2) WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison helped Snowden to get to Russia, yet neither WikiLeaks nor Glenn Greenwald have released all the NSA documents either. Hypocritical.
3) Having an offshore company is not illegal; hence it's highly questionable whether it's appropriate to publish copies of ID cards, social security numbers, bank account statements, addresses and the like of people who a) may not have done anything wrong legally and b) who are not of higher public interest.
4) A database of all 215.000 companies and the names of those who own them will be made available in early May.

Regarding the WikiLeaks tweets:
1) Yes, OCCRP is partially funded by USAID and the Open Society Foundation, that's hardly a secret since it's on literally every single page in the bottom right corner
2) OCCRP is, like The Guardian, the BBC or Le Monde, one of the reporting partners. Neither did they receive the documents originally (Süddeutsche Zeitung) nor did they set up the virtual newsroom and databases for the news organizations to work on them (ICIJ)
3) OCCRP's mission statement is fighting corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, hardly a surprise that these regions are their focus
4) ICIJ is a project of the Center for Public Integrity which has dozens upon dozens of funders and donors, e.g. including the Omidyar Network of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar whose First Look Media is the publisher of Glenn Greenwald's The Intercept

It should come as no surprise to anyone that those nations who rank poorly on the Transparency International Perceived Corruption Index are at forefront of these revelations, either.

And as has already been said as well:
1) Mossack Fonseca is only the fourth-largest provider of offshore services
2) Panama is one of 80 tax havens in the world
3) Panama is only the 13th most attractive tax haven, with the US being the 3rd most attractive

Thanks. This explains everything.

The nu-left will do anything to protect Putin-senpai.

They have a persecution complex but it's not even their own - it's one they've appropriated from a tiny ultra-corrupt Russian elite. An elite that is pretty much a manifestation of everything that they (ostensibly) despise, yet they fall over themselves to carry water for said elite at every opportunity.

It's absurd.

I don't think that anyone is defending Putin in this thread. It's more of a collective eyeroll at the "news" that Putin is evil and corrupt. We came here expecting major western politicians to be outed as hypocrites and face their crimes. Instead, we see articles about Putin who we already knew was trash and who will also never be punished.

No, thats not how it works.
There is too much data for anyone to read through everything and categorize it.
They went about this differently. They treated the data in order to be able perform searches and then they searched for names and if they found matches they read these documents.

Every involved journalist has access to all the data, but they all work on different cases and therefore search for different things.

To deliberately omit documents with certain people mentioned in them is not something the ICIJ could have done.

So far it also doesn't look like the leaks are particularly one sided.
Also, Süddeutsche Zeitung has no involvement with Soros and co. whatsoever. (They're also the best newspaper I know off, I know pretty many every significant german or english newspaper)
They're neither particularly pro US nor pro anyone else.

Keep in mind: This firm was only one of many. Certain people not appearing in the leaked data is a coincidence, but not a particularly unlikely one.

I don't know who Soros is. I just found the lack of western politicians being caught striking and figured it was a coverup by the source. But it seems that they just have better places to stash their money.

The fact that David Cameron was caught in this, assuming that he has his big stashes elsewhere, makes me think that he's probably one of the biggest tax evaders in the U.K.

 

[Walpurgis]

Corruption in indonesia? Hahahhah.TT Our country gives almost no cares for corruption. U can corrupt and get caught for many 1 to 2 years in jail and in like 5 years, u can return and tries ur luck to be another government officials. Money wins almost all here. From the police, law firms to judges all can be bought as long as u had the money.>~<

That's what I figured. Sounds a bit like the U.S. Screw this world.

Not UOL for starters

Brazilian media is fox news: Brasil is the incredible country in which every tv channel, every news paper, every news magazine is Fox News

LMAO! I can't imagine having even one with all the damage it's done in the U.S. A country of Fox News... I had no idea such a place existed.

 

[casiopao]

That's what I figured. Sounds a bit like the U.S. Screw this world.

LMAO! I can't imagine having even one with all the damage it's done in the U.S. A country of Fox News... I had no idea such a place existed.

Wait i thought USA is quite free from corruption there? I dont think i had ever heard of corruption problem there.(maybe i am just ill informed.) but compared to Indonesia here, Everyday, there will be a new person got caught for corruption and funnily, the corrupt officials simply won't stop corrupting as the punishment is so pathetic.

 

[ValkyrUser]

Wait i thought USA is quite free from corruption there? I dont think i had ever heard of corruption problem there.(maybe i am just ill informed.) but compared to Indonesia here, Everyday, there will be a new person got caught for corruption and funnily, the corrupt officials simply won't stop corrupting as the punishment is so pathetic.

Power corrupts. So yeah we have a lot of it in the US.

 

[casiopao]

Power corrupts. So yeah we have a lot of it in the US.

Bahhh. Is there one country with no corruption here?TT must i start planing to stay in space nowTT

 

[Walpurgis]

Wait i thought USA is quite free from corruption there? I dont think i had ever heard of corruption problem there.(maybe i am just ill informed.) but compared to Indonesia here, Everyday, there will be a new person got caught for corruption and funnily, the corrupt officials simply won't stop corrupting as the punishment is so pathetic.

It's there. Many U.S. politicians and judges receive bribes from corporations and such, and base their policies off of that instead of their voters. It's legal and done openly. They call them "campaign donations" but they're actually bribes. That's just the stuff that they do above the table.

However, in day-to-day life, there isn't much corruption so you can't bribe your way out of a traffic ticket or DUI. That kind of thing is reserved for the rich and powerful.

 

[Brazil]

Not UOL for starters

Brazilian media is fox news: Brasil is the incredible country in which every tv channel, every news paper, every news magazine is Fox News

They should create a pool of freelancer journalists for this. Without the heavy hand of the 6 families that dominate brazilian media today

Fair enough.

 

[Walpurgis]

Bahhh. Is there one country with no corruption here?TT must i start planing to stay in space nowTT

Sadly no. There are just countries that are less corrupt than others. Check this out to compare corruption of different countries.
https://www.transparency.org/country/

 

[ValkyrUser]

Bahhh. Is there one country with no corruption here?TT must i start planing to stay in space nowTT

Move to Denmark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index#2015

 

[Steel]

Move to Denmark.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index#2015

Considering how high iceland is on that list, I question its accuracy.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Bahhh. Is there one country with no corruption here?TT must i start planing to stay in space nowTT

Too bad in space you would have to be wealthy enough to qualify for living on Elysium. You're stuck on Earth with the rest of us.

 

[casiopao]

Too bad in space you would have to be wealthy enough to qualify for living on Elysium. You're stuck on Earth with the rest of us.

.... If gundam had teach me one thing, only the poor is allowed to stay in space so i think thats one thing..... But i would hate get killed by space nazi.TT

Considering how high iceland is on that list, I question its accuracy.

Lol, i just wanted to mention that.

It seems Singapore is the only correct answer there...... But man the way their people is like cattle here. Everyday work till the end of their life.TT


Time to move to Somalia then, i will become the Pirate King and says hell no to corruptions.^~^

 

[jellies_two]

It seems Singapore is the only correct answer there...... But man the way their people is like cattle here. Everyday work till the end of their life.TT

Singapore is not corrupt in the sense you can't pay a bribe to an official to get some fine overlooked or favourable treatment however the ruling party sits on boards, and directly benefits from ownership, both overt and otherwise, in huge companies: the press, banking, real estate, state investment funds and so on.
In other words the top echelon of singapore politics is wealthy beyond any need to indulge in grubby corruption. And meaningful political opposition is shut out of that wealth.
So yeah.

 

[Jimrpg]

It doesn't surprise me, wealthy people know that you need a working class to do the actual work. Where I live now in Malaysia the differences between wealthy people couldn't be more stark. I see politicians here with their expensive cars and expensive shoes and expensive everything.. It's frustrating because it's all the peoples money. Najibs wife has been photographed many times with a million dollar necklace and they are supposed to be on a $100k salary. While the general public make a minimum wage of US$250 a month. That's about $8 a day. In Australia (where I used to live) and other middle class dominated countries you don't see it as much because everyone is relatively comfortable so people don't think about corruption as much.

I doubt much is going to happen with the Panama papers because there's probably plenty of legal loopholes to setup offshore accounts for large businesses. It's just that big businesses don't play the same game as the general public that makes it frustrating.

 

[casiopao]

Singapore is not corrupt in the sense you can't pay a bribe to an official to get some fine overlooked or favourable treatment however the ruling party sits on boards, and directly benefits from ownership, both overt and otherwise, in huge companies: the press, banking, real estate, state investment funds and so on.
In other words the top echelon of singapore politics is wealthy beyond any need to indulge in grubby corruption. And meaningful political opposition is shut out of that wealth.
So yeah.

I do remember that Singapore ruling party PAP had been lead by Lee family for almost 50 years right? Now is under Lee Hsien Loong. While maybe the corruption is not like Indonesia where the officials blatantly stole people money and without shame bribe the judges for more lenient sentence, i think Singapore is more on nepotism and monopoly.

After all, when u had ur wife as the CEO of one of the biggest holding in Ur country while u are the PM, u can see how many shady deals moves behind.TT

It doesn't surprise me, wealthy people know that you need a working class to do the actual work. Where I live now in Malaysia the differences between wealthy people couldn't be more stark. I see politicians here with their expensive cars and expensive shoes and expensive everything.. It's frustrating because it's all the peoples money. Najibs wife has been photographed many times with a million dollar necklace and they are supposed to be on a $100k salary. While the general public make a minimum wage of US$250 a month. That's about $8 a day. In Australia (where I used to live) and other middle class dominated countries you don't see it as much because everyone is relatively comfortable so people don't think about corruption as much.

I doubt much is going to happen with the Panama papers because there's probably plenty of legal loopholes to setup offshore accounts for large businesses. It's just that big businesses don't play the same game as the general public that makes it frustrating.

Correct me if i am wrong here. Isnt ur PM Najib right now is facing heavy fire under IMDB bank corruption case? Is there no action like to pull him from his position there? As i remember seeing Mr Mahatir had been keep consolidating power to challenge Najib there.

 

[MisterFalcon]

Sorry Wikileaks, no conspiracy here.

Yet few American names have cropped up in the “Panama Papers,” a trove of 11.5 million confidential records detailing such accounts. That’s because the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm at the center of the scandal doesn’t like taking on American clients, one of its founders says.

Ramon Fonseca, who started the firm with Jurgen Mossack, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that their law firm has only a handful of American clients, most of them members of Panama’s burgeoning expat retirement community. It’s not out of any anti-Americanism or fear of the Internal Revenue Service.

“My partner is German, and I lived in Europe, and our focus has always been the European and Latin American market,” Fonseca said at his law office.

“He loves the U.S. a lot, and I do, too. My kids were educated there,” Fonseca added. But “as a policy we prefer not to have American clients.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...98ea76-fd3f-11e5-813a-90ab563f0dde_story.html

 

[Audioboxer]

Cameron resign hashtag is getting a little hot on twitter. We can dream.

 

[GAMEPROFF]

Cameron resign hashtag is getting a little hot on twitter. We can dream.

Would him make it more realistic that UK stays in the EU when he resigns?

 

[Minamu]

All major mentioned Swedish banks are ending up under scrutiny soon, not just Nordea, it was said today.

 

[Audioboxer]

Tax evasion is unlawful, tax avoidance is entirely lawful and moral. Tories believe in wealth creation and handing it on to their children.

https://twitter.com/geraldhowarth/status/718099306188828672 (Tory MP)

It's like a comical villain running a country.

 

[Funky Papa]

https://twitter.com/geraldhowarth/status/718099306188828672 (Tory MP)

It's like a comical villain running a country.

Witness the grand spectacle that is the divorce between aristocrats and the hoi polloi.

 

[PJV3]

https://twitter.com/geraldhowarth/status/718099306188828672 (Tory MP)

It's like a comical villain running a country.

He kitted out his home at the taxpayers expense, cheeky swine.

 

[Audioboxer]

But we're all children of the torries, where's mah welvf?!