222 North American Billionaires hide their money in Swiss Banks.

[Ichingcarpenter]

Very interesting articles on how the rich avoid paying their fair share.






Telling Swiss secrets: 222 billionaires
Part 2: Feeding the UBS obsession with North American wealth.

snip


Birkenfeld and his fellow crossborder bankers in UBS’ global wealth management division sought to sign on anyone with the obligation, if not necessarily the inclination, to pay U.S. taxes. “People understood what the advantages were,” he said, coyly enough, of the secrecy they sold.

After early stints at Credit Suisse and Barclays Geneva office, Birkenfeld joined UBS in 2001. By then, he had experience enough to know his division was steeped in skirting the law, if not in Switzerland itself, then certainly in the U.S. “Swiss bank secrecy is analogous with criminal conspiracy. That’s how I see it,” he told me.


Numbered bank accounts are illegal in the United States and most other banking jurisdictions, but it’s okay for U.S. residents to hold numbered accounts in the few countries that allow them — Switzerland is the biggest — provided they, and the banks, declare income-generating accounts to the IRS and the account holder pays tax on the income.


Part One:http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/europe/100724/swiss-...

Part 2;http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/europe/100724/swiss-...


Its in 4 parts but I need to go to work.

[Paper Roses]

1. Must be so easy for them. Just a quick click and off the $$'s go.

I have to put my $$ in a big plastic jar. The good part is that it counts the change as I add it. A little slow but I can see my wealth grow. Why, I already have $15.99 and will add more today.

On a more serious note, I find this is so sad. With so many in dire circumstances, you'd think some sharing of the good fortune would be in order. When you have this much money, it would be a gracious thing to spread it around some. How much of these billions can you spend in a lifetime anyway?

[RKP5637]

3. Citizens have an illusion they count anymore in USA, Inc. Citizens counted in

past years, but not in the NEW USA, Inc. You'll be lucky in the future if your vote even counts as Diebold takes over.

[AngryAmish]

2. This is a great article

Read the whole thing.

[leveymg]

4. Global Post has a number of interesting, substantive investigative reports.

Also, check out the article about the mandatory 81 hour weeks, and dollar an hour wages, for workers in East Asian sweat shops assembling IPhones and Dell keyboards.

Reminds me of the sort of reporting most of the US media no longer even pretends to do.

If anyone wants to know how those 222 American tax evaders became and remain billionaires, that article is instructive.

[aquart]

5. These people are insufficiently taxed, fined, and jailed.

We should work to improve that.

[Soylent Brice]

6. K&R

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. Thanks for the kick

It is a very good article that shows how corrupt the system is

AND ITS FROM A BANK INSIDER THAT SPILLED THE BEANS

[Soylent Brice]

8. frankly, i'm surprised this isn't being more widely discussed here. n/t

[onethatcares]

9. 222 billionaires and they don't want to give up a dime of it.

gauddammmm greed. how much is enough?

[Octafish]

10. Switzerland should sound sweet to a scumbucket like Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party.

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

Of course, that's just a coincidence, tax dodgers and offshore looters together, safe and sound.

Thank you for the heads-up, Ichingcarpenter.