Paradise and a twisted perspecive on everything

[defacto7]

13.4 million documents - 1.4 trillion bytes

So since the Paradise Papers dump is so massive and outs an unprecedented number of government officials, I have this sinking thought confounding my paradigm.

What would it would mean if these crimes end up translating to the "norm". I mean if it's big enough couldn't this change the meaning of government and America itself? If the overwhelming powers of international government commit crimes, wouldn't that ultimately negate these crimes.. changing everything? Who's going to prosecute and serve out the law if they ARE the law?

If it gets too big, I wonder if that would actually undermine democracy and order as we know it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. what it means is that we are all living a sham. I think many of us suspect it anyway.

I am sufficiently cynical to realize that there are different sets of rules. The Paradise papers will just confirm it.

[defacto7]

2. Yes, suspecting it is one thing.

Seeing a pattern in data, being overwhelmed by documents that point to more than speculation is another.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I have to admit that at 61, I am heading for deeper cynicism and isolation as all of this

becomes more and more insane.

I still think that the climate is the overriding factor in all of it - so the assholes in power are ignoring it at their - all of our - peril!

[defacto7]

10. I'm with you.

[Gabi Hayes]

16. You know how meat keeps cooking for a good bit of

time when you stop applying heat?

It’s already too late

I’m older than you and despair for my brother’s grand kids

Cheers!

[defacto7]

21. Too late is likely, but we keep trying

[Gabi Hayes]

26. I use all my ziplock bags til they leak through

Pinholes!

Gets messy, but hey....

[cilla4progress]

5. You are me

have known this for decades.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. what keeps me sane - my wife, kids, pets, the beauty of the world we live in...

great books, music, movies. Long walks, kayaks.

Yes, it is escapism....but so important to find some balance against the rage.

[cilla4progress]

8. I hear you

A peaceful comfortable life surrounded by loved ones is all any of us want.

These fuckers want.to deprived us of that out of their own greed.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. and they have no right to do that.

[defacto7]

14. Where constitutional rights become blurred,

inalienable human rights must never become an obsolete ideology. In the light, they have no right to do that.

[defacto7]

15. Where is the line where escapism becomes reality?

It is reality to me. The rest is a wall to tear down, it's where I work to make my insignificant difference in the world. Then I go home to what's real and the rest can go to hell.

[NRaleighLiberal]

18. .

[FarCenter]

4. Millions of Leaked Files Shine Light on Where the Elite Hide Their Money

Appleby has offices in tax havens around the world. In addition to its Bermudan headquarters, it works out of places like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean; the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey off Britain; Mauritius and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean; and Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Americans — companies and people — dominate the list of clients. Past disclosures, such as the 2013 “Offshore Leaks” from two offshore incorporators in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands, the 2015 “Swiss Leaks” from a private Swiss bank owned by the British bank HSBC and another leak in 2016 from the Bahamas were dominated by clients not from the United States.

The documents come not only from Appleby, but also from the Singaporean company Asiaciti Trust and official business registries in places such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Lebanon and Malta.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/paradise-papers.html

[cilla4progress]

6. And where and how do they

accumulate the money they hide?

That is the truw question.

[FarCenter]

11. "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime" - Honore de Balzac

[cilla4progress]

12. They've stolen

the wealth of nations. That's you and me. Why are so many living in poverty while these people stash their wealth away? It comes from US and OUR LABORS and sacrifices...

[defacto7]

20. I think that there is a point where wealth

becomes meaningless. Their view of the world is so askew they don't see that everything is cancelling out. Maybe the acumulation of crimes against us all destroys a world order and democracy, but mass acumulation of wealth will do the same.
An article today said the king of Saudi Arabia just claimed three trillion dollars by arresting "his adversaries" I don't remember the wording. What the hell is three trillion dollars? It's a meaningless number. Billions is meaningless. It's power, control, the ability to make or break your surroundings. The numbers mean nothing.
Where is our wealth? I want peace, health and a furure for my children, and the knowledge that when I die they will go on. This is real. Their large numbers will eat them first then disappear in their fear of an unrelenting planet and it's inhabitants.

[SweetieD]

23. Agree 100 percent. You said what I was thinking.

[defacto7]

22. I'm curious about the holdings of

the Queen of England in all this. What is she holding and what is she benefitting from against the interests of GB.

[Twitler]

13. It has always been this way,

the veneer is coming off, for all of us to see the rot underneath. And yes, these revelations threaten to destroy the very fabric of western democracy. Putin is a major player in all of this, Trump is a bit player and in over his head. He should resign immediately.

[defacto7]

17. BTW, welcome to the gang!

[Twitler]

19. Thank you!

[SweetieD]

24. Imagine where the world would be if these people actually paid their taxes like we do?

This represents trillions of wealth gone. We pay taxes on everything, fed/local/sales. We make them rich, they use public infrastructure /projects to get rich, and they hoard those riches because they don't want to pay their fair share back to society.

If they paid what they owe we wouldn't have to want for anything. And maybe that's the point.

[defacto7]

25. I think the numbers are there to support this.

The greatest wealth creator for the few is war and the military industrial complex. If this were invested in science and the betterment of all humanity instead of to serve out death to the adversaries we create, imagine the heights we would achieve and the general good that woud ensue.
There are a lot of imbalances to correct if we are to survive, and prosperity would come, and peace.