Massive leak exposes how the wealthy and powerful hide their money

[underahedgerow]

70. This isn't news, this is information. None of this is a shock or scandal to anyone who is

the least bit familiar with finances in a world far outside of average family life in suburbia, with a job making 12 bucks an hour and dragging kids to day care.

This is the world of high-flying finance, where people actually own and use private jets, own cars (and rarely drive them) that are worth more than your house, wear clothing on one outing that costs more than most make in a year, and have holiday homes in some of the most amazing places on the planet.

It's just a different lifestyle is all. Most nations tax the UHNW people enormous amounts of money; it only makes sense to use legal tax avoidance devices whenever possible. Heck, that applies to everyone, really. The illegal tax avoidance? Well that's the business of doing business. It's pretty much falls into the victimless crime category and if someone is worth gazillions, it makes sense to do what they have to do to protect their assets. There literally are no penalties for such actions; siezure and penalties are nearly impossible.

Get all huffy if you want over how extremely wealthy people manage their assets, it doesn't do any good to give it a moment's worth of worry; it's always gone on, since the days when Vikings buried their stolen hoards of gold and goods.