http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/the-real-scandal-behind-the-panama-papers
They write about the blatant lip service given to change and the efforts to stop real change.
Business as usual. Panama blatantly participated in financial corruption and tax evasion. No wonder that efforts to stop and change were equally blatant. No subtlety, no finesse. No sweeping it all under the rug and making it look like anything effective was done. The government could have done that if they followed the lead of more sophisticated countries and made a silk purse out of a sows ear. Turned being caught red handed in a crime into a "Born Again" sham spectacle of crime fighting.
Panama learned that they should not hire a Bill Black to make things right. Panama should have adopted the US model of dealing with financial corruption: What is that? Do nothing but skillfully hid the failure to do anything.
The link is a sad story that could have been predicted. Unfortunate that there is not a futures market on the outcome of such a situation. Betting that nothing would be done. That is a sure bet. Who would bet against it. Probably only at extremely long odds. As extreme as credit default swaps being any value other than bail out.
One good link contained in the link. This one: https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0451.aspx
It was issued in May 2016. Pay attention Panama. Learn how a master of the art performs the magic of maintaining business as usual in the face of demand for change in the financial business model! Presto! It is called laundering crime into acceptable practice without changing its substance?
Is that cynical? Treasury says in a press release that some big change is coming. That was May 2016.
What will really change?
The bigger scandal behind the Panama Papers is perhaps what the US government will really do to change the same situation in the US?
Keep an eye on the shell game to be played out by finance and government in the USA.
"Treasury Announces Key Regulations and Legislation to Counter Money Laundering and Corruption, Combat Tax Evasion"
President Obama Announces Get Tough Proposals https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160505-obama-admin-announces-reform-bid.html
I can announce that the cow jumped over the moon.
Jack Lew's letter to Congress: This link to that letter is the most transparent document that I have ever seen! https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2824376-US-transparency-announcement-Secretary-Lew.html This link however does link to the PDF letter. It is the only way I could find to link to the PDF. The PDF is a skillfully worded document. All text referencing wonderful things.
The initial sentence sets the tone and intent: I would like to copy and paste that sentence from the PDF but my Mac laptop Preview viewer does not provide me the ability to do that. Maybe there is a better viewer that would allow me to cut and paste.
PDFs which are commonly used in government documents are an excellent vehicle to launder what they contain because their contents are not hyperlinked to text references that not only serve to substantiate was is referenced but are an aid to research that otherwise requires a search. Not exactly a dead end when I want to go to whatever is referenced like this text from Sec Treasury's letter:
"Treasury finalized customer due diligence regulations" What is the link to that???? I would like to know more about it without having to pass the letter to my non-existent research staff to find out what document did that and what it was all about!!!
Ironic! The PDF has no links to its factual documentation content. No transparency? Not exactly, research could find it. Just like research could probably find beneficial ownership of any company. It is just not easy to connect the relational dots. The point is that it should be structured so that the transparency connections are actually in the document as direct links!
There is a site on the World Wide Web that provides for anyone to add a hyperlink to anything on the WWW. Unfortunately it is a web app that works only through the app site.
Beneficial Ownership as a solution will never be transparent. It might be confidential info for investigators but if there is no funding for investigation then what is the point?
The point is to launder financial crime and tax evasion and perpetuate the established system. The same objective that Panama had but made in the USA with such greater quality by skilled workers.
The USA outsourced hard manufacturing dominance but we sure have excelled in the software of smoke and mirror production. Especially in the financial sector but that is where all the money is.
Panama didn't do anything that we are not doing. It just was not as skilled in hiding it and maintaining business as usual.
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