My previous blogs, The IMF in Denial As to the Realities of the World, Dangers of Demand Driven Capacity Development, and Ostrich-Playing at the IMF & Elsewhere in "This Town", examined how those in power are still in denial after almost a decade, of round-table talks, discussions, meetings, conferences, and speeches spinning their wheels on the same old discussions and issues from the last financial meltdown, and onset of the present economic crisis--with the level of Denial as high as the level of urgency of those in power to ACT. One of the primary problems of not addressing the abuses of power at the higher levels of governments, as well as within the international agencies themselves, is that--contrary to with economics, where the trickle-down theory does not work--in the case of corruption, the trickle-down theory works extremely well.
However, the type of corruption we are seeing within these large bureaucratic agencies at present, is not the type of corruption these organizations have challenged in the past--which have remained primarily focused on overt bribes, pay-offs, and abuses of benefits and perks. That type of corruption, is thankfully considered "unacceptable" these days, and therefore less prevalent than it was a few decades ago.
The corruption seen in government agencies, or any large bureaucratic agency, for that matter, is insidious and more linked to "power-hungry" civil servants who are complacent with the knowledge that they can do absolutely nothing but show up for work, keep a chair warm, and look busy--and continue to collect their "pay-check and pensions" without anyone making a fuss. And, there is usually a very strong correlation between how well these employees "whine and moan" about their "excessive" work-load, and those who are the least productive and effective in the workplace, as well as often the most problematic in terms of bullying. It is a win-win situation to get rid of this type of behavior in the workplace, as Daniel Goleman often espouses. However, due to antiquated norms, and too many people in management positions who have no incentive to change the status quo--as it benefits them, bullying in the workplace is the dominating management style in most of the large organizations, be they national or international, or in the public or private sector. The situation is further complicated by the fact that these organizations, are more often than not, encouraging this type of behavior rather than discourage it.
The challenge for the actors involved at present (be it at national levels or international levels), is to assure implementation and application of their progressive laws and "capacity building" rhetoric, as opposed to the systematic omission of actions of civil servants everywhere, which is the current state of affairs in countries across the globe. Under the old system, the average person could at least bribe their way to "justice" and "democracy." However, under the new system, the only people who gets any "service" are the most powerful at the top of the food-chain, with the masses left with nowhere to turn for justice for their growing list of grievances. The wealthy and powerful always get justice, because they can afford to pay for it. But, the poor schmuck at the bottom of the food chain, is left holding the proverbial bag of "injustices and misery" of everyone on top of him or her. This is probably where the interpretation that martyrs "die for the sins of others" originated.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that those in power are hoarding large amounts of money in tax havens and off-shore accounts, estimated at $21-32T in assets by the Tax Justice Network--a portion of which are MY FUNDS, along with the funds of untold millions of other upper-middle-to-upper-class divorced women who have been defrauded of their wealth by their misogynistic lawyers and judges in courts around the world, in the past 40 years. (See my activism website www.warondomesticterrorism.com, calling attention to my report FfD: A Midsummer Night's Dream.)
As the blog Tax Havens & Inequities on the Tax Justice Network website explains,
Tax havens generate inequality like nothing else, for a wide range of reasons.
Tackling poverty is one of the great challenges of our age. But if we do not address inequality, we will never understand poverty.
Focusing on poverty alone has two unfortunate side effects. First, it encourages the idea that the poor are some sort of disconnected 'other', to be pitied and (perhaps) showered with benevolent largesse. It encourages suggestions that the poor are not like decent, hard-working, respectable people, and that their problems are innate: it's really all their fault. This is highly convenient for rich people and governments, which can then conclude that there is little point in tackling excessive wealth since the problems are clearly all confined at the poorer end of society. Second, focusing on poverty lets the rich disport themselves on the world stage as a force for good, obscuring their role in amassing excessive income and wealth - which is very often extracted through rent-seeking rather than through genuine wealth creation: through market rigging, subsidy-chasing, corruption, grand larceny, tax avoidance, and much more. It is hardly surprising that many rich people love talking about poverty but hate talking about inequality.
Tax justice and the struggle against tax havens has to be a central part of any inequality-focused agenda. With some $21-32 trillion in financial assets sitting offshore, largely untaxed, the offshore system of tax havens clearly has mind-bending effects on inequality within and between countries. All that offshore wealth is held by the world's 10 million wealthiest people: and a large share of that by the wealthiest 100,000. Because of tax havens, inequality is certainly significantly worse than what economists measure (read more about that here.) Worse still, tax competition is 'compressing' tax systems around the world, with the effect of reducing tax rates on the wealthy and increasing tax rates on the poor. Many other unjust features of tax systems make the problem still worse: corporate tax avoidance, for instance, routinely facilitated by offshore tax shenanigans.
It's not just about tax, either. Offshore secrecy is another massive source of global inequalities. When wealthy dictators and their cronies loot developing countries and stash it offshore, in secrecy, the ensuing tax evasion and criminality has the effect of entrenching concentrations of wealth - and consequently political power - at the top of those societies, in vicious circles of increasing inequality. Similar if less stark dynamics are at play in richer countries too.
There are various other ways in which tax havens, and bad tax systems impact on economic inequalities (and, by extension, on political inequalities.) They are too numerous to explore here, but you can find references to them on the "Topics" button on this site.
Inequality and Democracy - Aid, Tax and State building, Capital Flight, Corruption, Gender, Human Rights, Inequality and Tax Havens
Race to the Bottom - Tax Wars, Financial regulation
Corporate Tax - Taxing Corporations, Country by Country Reporting, Tax and corporate responsibility, Tax treaties, Transfer Pricing
Financial Sector - Tax havens and the financial crisis, Finance Curse, Enablers and intermediaries, Race to the bottom
Secrecy - Information Exchange, Mechanics of Secrecy
More - Size of the problems, Glossary, Offshore History, Quotations, Miscellaneous
INEQUALITY, "BAD TAXES," GOVERNANCE, AND CORRUPTION ARE SOME OF THE ISSUES CLINTON AND TRUMP SHOULD BE DISCUSSING, INSTEAD OF THE STUPID DRIBBLE GOING ON AT PRESENT. AND, THESE ARE THE ISSUES JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE COVERING IN THEIR QUESTIONS OF THE CANDIDATES.
In closing, I quote Lee Iacocca in his book Where Have All the Leaders Gone,
Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!