STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 22 April 2013 -- Earth Day

[Demeter]

13. Shine a Light on the Poverty Creation Industry: The global shadow economy

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15726-its-time-to-shine-a-light-on-the-poverty-creation-industry

...What we find is a two-tier system comprised of,

1) a global mainstream economy where basic rules of fairness and transparency apply, and

2) a global shadow economy where fairness is an irrelevant concept, transparency a state to be avoided at all costs and the social contract is ignored.

This shadow economy has been steadily and systematically created through a series of very clear strategies. Its sole purpose is to provide a place above national tax laws, where profit and capital can be hoarded without limit. It is extremely popular with those who can afford to access it. It is vast. It is comprised of over 80 tax havens, innumerous trade agreements and legal frameworks, and employs a small army of people to lobby policymakers, provide legal defence, manage and buy-off elected officials. Somewhere between $21 and $32 trillion – or 10%-15% of all privately held wealth – is hidden behind the great walls of secrecy. Of the 100 largest companies on the London Stock Exchange, 98 routinely use tax havens. Over half of all global trade flows between and within them so that profits can be siphoned off untaxed.

In other words, the shadow economy is not only immense, but it is intricately sewn into the mainstream economy. Like a parasite, it is attached to the body of its host and drains its financial lifeblood at a rate and scale that is large enough to perpetuate global inequality and poverty. There could not be a clearer case of an industry designed to benefit through active and willful exploitation, and at the expense of the majority of the world’s people. An industry designed with rules that enrich some through the impoverishment of others: the Poverty Creation Industry...

...we have helped create one avenue for action: /The Rules is a new global citizens movement aimed at tackling these root causes of inequality and poverty. By coming together in common purpose and with a common understanding, using smart organising and global communication networks, we believe ordinary people have the power to stand up to the Poverty Creation Industry, and bring about new rules. Our first step is to demand transparency in the global hub of the tax haven system, the City of London. It will take a massive and ongoing global effort – to paraphrase Martin Luther King, the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. We believe change is possible only if the citizens of the world demand change.

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Joe Brewer

Joe Brewer an innovation strategist who weaves together brilliant people and ideas to create high-impact projects and a change agent who synthesizes broad multidisciplinary knowledge into useful tools and insights for the empowerment of others. His writings on social change can be found at Chaotic Ripple.

Martin Kirk

Martin is the Global Campaigns Director at /The Rules and has worked extensively across private, public and NGO sector on government relations and engaging the public on global issues.

Alnoor Ladha

Alnoor is the lead figure behind a the global anti-poverty initiative /The Rules, which aims to address the root causes of poverty.