This month we examine the story of Mossack Fonseca, a much neglected topic that gets greatly ignored due to its obscurity. Don’t be fooled, this is the story of the year no one is talking about! Don’t miss this show.
TOPICS
Only Arrest in Mossack Fonseca Scandal: After several months of “investigation”, the only man arrested in the tax haven scandal has been an IT worker who was suspected of being the leak in the first place [1]
2008 Financial Crisis: The Government went so easy on Wall Street, they allowed the banks to borrow trillions of dollars at almost zero percent interest. This allowed them to pay their “fines”, a joke really, with the interest they had made off these loans [2]. Rather than a bailout, this was effectively a giant Ponzi scheme.
Goldman Pays 5 Billion in Settlement: Because the government allowed the banks to essentially financially settle all loan fraud, no one went to jail.[3]
Criminal Activities Ignored: Part of what made the Goldman Sachs fraud so outrageous is the fact that not only did they sell toxic assets as though they were triple A, they also be against their own funds, shorting their own customers. [4]
How Tax Havens Work: Ever wonder how a tax haven actually works? Well, now you don’t have to any more? Why not get in on the scam yourself and fuck over your fellow countrymen? Probably because you don’t have enough money…[5]
The Big Short: One of the best movies if you want to understand the 2008 financial crisis, please don’t watch this movie if you plan on sleeping ever again [6]
The Interest Rates Time Bomb: The government has been slow to raise the Interest rate, and this could cause a recession. [7]
Financial Bubble caused by Euphoria: The story of Hyman Minsky, who predicted that economic bubbles are caused by people having too much confidence in their economy, causing a “euphoric” effect that only accelerates the bubble.[8]
Thomas More’s Utopia: The book created the idea of a “perfect” society which still has it’s name. The 500 year old book is a dialog about a man who returns from this perfect island to describe how they live their lives. [9]
Teaser on the LIBOR Scandal: Who knew that interest rates were more about “feeling” than reality? And who knew there were people getting rich of this crazy idea? [10]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/15/mossack-fonseca-worker-arrested-switzerland-panama-papers
[2] http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/secret-and-lies-of-the-bailout-20130104
[3] http://fortune.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-doj-settlement/
[4]http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24561376.html
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/19/tax-havens-money-cayman-islands-jersey-offshore-accounts
[6] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/14/the-big-short-review-a-comedy-to-make-your-blood-boil/
[7] http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2016/05/22/how-ultra-low-interest-rates-will-cause-the-next-global-recession/#762c45c3289f
[8] http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/04/economics-film
[9] http://literatureproject.com/utopia/index.htm
[10] http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/story/2012-07-18/libor-interest-rate-scandal/56322230/1