Site Search:
 
Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

The Panama Papers: how to hide a billion dollars
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Current Events Forum
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
gregory999



Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 372
Location: 999

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 8:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

fluffyhamster wrote:

And another good article:
http://www.theguardian.com/news/commentisfree/2016/apr/10/money-offshore-corrupt-democracy-political-influence

Indeed, democracy is corrupted by the 1% super-rich, including politicians who work for them.
This is another cardinal sin of democracy! Laughing
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
fluffyhamster



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Democracy - don't knock it until you've tried it! Laughing Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dedicated



Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK

PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's a bit rich for German Wolfgang Schauble to criticize the UK and demand [/quote] Britain must close loopholes
Quote:
.


On the Financial Secrecy Index, FSI, Germany is in 8th position with 738.3. The higher the FSI, the larger influence on world economy in terms of economic secrecy and tax avoidance.

The UK is 361.3 ; Jersey 591.2 ; Guernsey 419.3; British Virgin Islands 385.4.

The phrase 'people in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones' springs to mind.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Democracy - don't knock it until you've tried it!"

And who knows - someday that might actually happen. Twisted Evil

Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
fluffyhamster



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

@Dedicated: Perhaps, but Schauble presumably isn't doing too much tax dodging, and Cameron isn't the one describing the tax dodgers as 'freeloaders'. I was simply commenting on the difference in the (English) language being used. But if you'd prefer to focus on the German aspects, there's always this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TknnvlcLsYI
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
fluffyhamster



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/11/the-divide-inequality-documentary-katharine-round

A few select quotes:

"Even the wealthy are scrabbling to stay happy."

"We meet Wall Street psychologist Alden, who wants to get ahead and join the top 1% of earners, and who is working so hard to save up to move his family into a gated community that he gets home too late for story time with his daughters. When he has back surgery, he can’t afford to convalesce, and is in his office the next morning."

"Her film makes the point powerfully, focusing on the unhappiness of people such as Jen, from Sacramento, California, who has recently moved to a gated community (where people spend $10,000 on converting the golf carts they drive everywhere, to make them look like mini Mercedes or BMWs), and finds that her neighbours don’t talk to each other, and certainly don’t much like their children playing with hers. Jen notes that residents are planning to build a second fence within the community, to exclude the cheaper properties around the edges, and the (relatively) poorer inhabitants."

"We don’t hear much from the super-rich, except a passing few insights from Richard Berman, an exhausted-looking 70-year-old venture capitalist, who offers a hilariously plaintive justification of the system: “Without big rewards, people like me aren’t going to work 15-20 hours a day in order to get rich.”"

"The rise of debt and the origins and consequences of the sub-prime crisis in the US are also touched on; look out for the footage of George Bush saying first: “We certainly don’t want fine print to get in the way of people owning their own homes” and “achieving the goal of a five and a half million unique minority home owners” and then a few years later, after the financial crisis, remarking sternly: “We should not help out those who made the reckless decision to buy a home they could never afford.”"

"Round told her subjects that she was “making a film about the link between the economy and society and how that affected people on different levels of the income scale”. Most of them wanted to take part so that they could articulate their confusion about the disconnect between efforts they were putting into staying afloat and the paltry rewards they were reaping."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dedicated



Joined: 18 May 2007
Posts: 972
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They say politics is show business for ugly people, in which case the current production in Westminster is almost certainly a farce. Indeed, it could even be a pantomime.

The central villain is the Prime Minister - dubbed 'Dodgy Dave' by left-wing bore, Dennis Skinner MP. The old socialist was kicked out of the Commons by Speaker John Bercow for refusing to withdraw the remark. Meanwhile, hero of the people, Jeremy Corbyn, is determined to whip the townsfolk into a frenzy over the PM's family background, his inheritance, his temerity to own shares and his outrageous assertion that 'wealth isn't a dirty word'.

The main comic device in this over-egged tragicomedy is the flourishing of tax returns. Westminster hasn't seen this before, and to be fair it's proving to be quite entertaining. Having demanded that everyone Cameron has ever met publish their tax returns, Jeremy Corbyn vowed to release his. Unfortunately, he couldn't find it. When it was finally published, much later than planned, it revealed several important pieces of information. We learnt, for example, that the Leader of the Opposition has terrible handwriting. We also learnt that he appears to make a cheeky 500 pounds from answering survey questions. Just picture the scene as his landline rings 'Hello. Yes, certainly I have a few minutes to talk about my shopping habits'. Fresh laughs were provided by news that he filed his tax return late and was fined 100 pounds.

The final comic revelation was that Corbyn takes home less than George Osborne paid in tax last year. Yes, the Chancellor published his tax return as well, outing himself as another dastardly holder of shares. Acts 3 and 4 of this comedy of errors consisted of lesser political figures rushing out their tax returns too. Nicola Sturgeon obliged, as did several Welsh party leaders. London Labour MP Chuka Umunna also published his, though nobody asked him to. UKIP's Nigel Farage , meanwhile, is having none of it. When asked on Radio 4 whether he'd join this new wave of transparency the MEP said ' The answer from me is a big NO'.

So there we have it. Quite a day. Quite a production. It hasn't got us any closer to tackling global tax evasion, money laundering or illicit money trails, but it certainly raised a few laughs.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Current Events Forum All times are GMT
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Page 5 of 5

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

Teaching Jobs in China
Teaching Jobs in China