942-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

Posted by Stephen Cook on June 5, 2013

Luxury Homes in Bermuda

Stephen: It’s symbolic that most of the tax evasion and tax haven stories have gained much coverage in the UK, yet seemingly little by comparison in the US and elsewhere. In a 2013 survey of 2,300 finance professionals, London was judged the most competitive financial centre.

So maybe that’s why the UK PM, David Cameron, is now calling the leaders of British overseas territories, including Bermuda, to London to answer tough questions as to why they’ve become competitive for another reason – offering the best tax deals so the super-rich can hide their massive wealth. It’ll be interesting as the new energies continue to rise just how long it will be before other world leaders start to seriously address the global issue of tax havens. I think the domino theory will soon take effect. G8 or not.

Cameron Calls in Tax Havens Ahead of G8 Summit in June

By Patrick Wintour, political editor, The Guardian – June 4, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/04/cameron-tax-havens-g8-summit

David Cameron has asked the senior ministers of all Britain’s overseas territories – including Bermuda, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands – to London on the eve of this month’s G8 summit to urge them to root out the multibillion-pound evasion industry by signing up to agreements to share tax information.

Britain has made a clampdown on corporate and individual tax avoidance the central theme of its chairmanship of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland on 17 and 18 June, and Cameron has decided that he cannot be a credible chair of the summit if he is not seen to be trying to put Britain’s own house in order.

The intensity of the pressure that Cameron will place on the 10 crown dependencies and overseas territories to be more co-operative has, however, not yet been determined, amid signs there are some disputes between Downing Street and the Treasury on what to demand, and whether excessive public pressure will lead them to refuse to co-operate.

Cameron wants British offshore havens to sign an OECD convention to give mutual assistance in tax matters, which provides for the sharing of information between countries, seen as key to ending evasion.

Some of the British havens have agreed to the automatic exchange of information with some western economies, but not as widely as prescribed by the convention.

The prime minister plans to chair a tax and transparency conference alongside Nick Clegg on the weekend before the G8 summit itself. Cameron is looking at the possibility of the UK dependencies and overseas territories formally signing the OECD convention in the cabinet room on Saturday, but government sources said the plan could yet unravel in the face of hostility from the overseas territories.

The precise constitutional relationship between the UK and the overseas territories is a matter of dispute, but some aid agencies claim the UK can in effect force the crown dependencies to close down the tax loopholes.

Cameron wrote to the crown dependencies and overseas territories in May saying he wanted the G8 to “knock down the walls of company secrecy” to reveal who really owns and controls firms.

The letter calling for action on tax information exchange and beneficial ownership was sent to leaders in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

Many of them are furious at being labelled tax havens, and fear the basis of their economies is being threatened, and that they will be put at a competitive disadvantage.

ActionAid claims nearly one in every two dollars of large corporate investment in developing countries was routed through a tax haven. It claims 98 of the FTSE 100 multinational groups have companies in tax havens.

Melanie Ward, head of advocacy at ActionAid UK, said: “It is perfectly possible to achieve a G8 deal to tackle tax dodging that works in the interests of rich and poor countries alike. The prime minister has said that he will do this, but the question is whether he has the clout to achieve it.

“The first test is in the UK’s own backyard, and is whether he will pull all 10 of the UK’s own tax havens – the overseas territories and crown dependencies – into line.

“At the pre-G8 tax and transparency event on 15 June, David Cameron must ensure that all 10 sign up to the existing multilateral convention on tax information exchange.”

Brendan Cox, spokesman for the If campaign, a coalition of 200 groups campaigning in the run-up to the G8, said: “Cameron has to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. By getting the UK house in order, he will have the opportunity to make a wider breakthrough at the summit itself on the issue of beneficial ownership, the way to get behind the anonymous shell companies.”

Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne, are still gauging how far to push the G8 on measures to make it easy to establish the real owners of companies and assets, in the face of hostility primarily from America and Canada.

Osborne is also facing a push-back from business about imposing excessive regulatory burdens on companies to report their profits on a country by country basis.

Ahead of the summit, Cameron will meet the European commission president, José Barroso, this week, prior to a nutrition summit this weekend.

In the week running up to the G8 summit itself, Cameron will set out his vision of Britain’s role in the world and the continuing relevance of the G8.

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/5/2013 3:56:10 PM
	5 Signs We Live in the United States of the Bank of America by Kevin Mathews June 3, 2013 Welcome to the United States of the Bank of America. Forget the President, Congress and Supreme Court – all signs point to the big banks really having the power in the U.S. Here’s the evidence: 1. Banks Write the Laws You know how U.S. citizens are clamoring for better laws to regulate the dastardly banks? Well, who better to write these new laws than the banks themselves? Last week, the House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that was almost entirely written by Citibank. 70 of the bill’s 85 lines were taken from Citibank’s suggested legislation. After all, why should Congress do its job to draft meaningful reform when private interest lobbyists are happy to do it for our elected officials? As Neil Barofksy, who served as the Treasury Department’s Special Inspector General during the bank bailouts, points out, banks crafting legislation is hardly new. “It’s only surprising in that we don’t learn from our mistakes and history just repeats itself,” he says. 2. Banks Don’t Follow the Laws Hey, they’re the ones writing the laws… you don’t honestly expect them to have to actually follow these rules, too, do you? When one study found that 1 out of 4 Wall Street executives claimed that breaking the law was actually “necessary” in order to run their businesses, that should give everyone an idea of how the banks view the law of the land. Why bother to follow the law when they’re not on the hook, anyway? Corporate tax loopholes allow large banks to simply write off any settlements they should have to pay for their wrongdoing. Believe it or not, these fines are considered a “deductible corporate expense” come tax time, so the punishments end up being inconsequential. 3. Bankers Are Too Big to Jail We’ve all heard that not a single Wall Street bigwig has gone to jail for their numerous crimes (while thousands of protesters have been arrested for pointing out this fact). Finally, Attorney General Eric Holder gave the United States an explanation for this lack of prosecution. What was once just assumed is now an acknowledged fact: the Department of Justice has considered the potential economic impact of pressing criminal charges against bankers and decided against it. I seem to recall a point in recent years when these same banks’ illegal practices really did cause an economic collapse. So how does sending someone to prison make the situation any worse? Holder’s words also send a clear message to banks that they can do whatever they want in the future. Too big to fail also means too big to jail. When the U.S. government is scared of YOU, that’s a sign that you’ve got the power in the situation. 4. The Government Keeps the Banks’ Secrets Despite having a President who has promised unprecedented transparency, the banks’ dealings with the government have been kept pretty hush-hush. David Barr, an FDIC spokesman, said that they don’t reveal most of the private settlements with banks after they do wrong, but “declined to discuss the legal strategy behind the Deutsche Bank deal and other no-press-release agreements.” The obvious theory would be the government is protecting the banks by limiting the public from understanding the extent of their wrongdoing. Furthermore, the government is also probably protecting itself from having to reveal the minuscule slap-on-the-wrist fines it imposes for these major infractions. 5. Banks Are Hijacking Citizen’s Property Have you stopped by to welcome the new homeowners in your neighborhood yet? Probably not: they’re the banks. So far the banks have foreclosed on (and now own) 1.5 million homes across the country. It’s a number that continues to rise, particularly with foreclosure looming for an additional 11 million homeowners who owe the banks more than their houses’ actual value. What’s worse is that the majority of the bank foreclosures are conducted improperly if not outright fraudulently. Still, the government has done more to protect the banks for this shady practice than its newly homeless citizens who are powerless with little legal recourse even when the banks are at fault. It turns out that the recent legislation that was purportedly designed to prevent the underhanded foreclosures still includes plenty of loopholes for the banks to do it anyway. Read more: bank, bank-of-america, banks, citibank, corruption, foreclosure, government, laws, legislation, wells fargo Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/5-signs-we-live-in-the-united-states-of-the-bank-of-america.html#ixzz2VMFYLobS
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/5/2013 9:12:43 PM
	Tax Haven Leaders Summoned To London Posted by Stephen Cook on June 5, 2013 Luxury Homes in Bermuda Stephen: It’s symbolic that most of the tax evasion and tax haven stories have gained much coverage in the UK, yet seemingly little by comparison in the US and elsewhere. In a 2013 survey of 2,300 finance professionals, London was judged the most competitive financial centre. So maybe that’s why the UK PM, David Cameron, is now calling the leaders of British overseas territories, including Bermuda, to London to answer tough questions as to why they’ve become competitive for another reason – offering the best tax deals so the super-rich can hide their massive wealth. It’ll be interesting as the new energies continue to rise just how long it will be before other world leaders start to seriously address the global issue of tax havens. I think the domino theory will soon take effect. G8 or not. Cameron Calls in Tax Havens Ahead of G8 Summit in June By Patrick Wintour, political editor, The Guardian – June 4, 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/04/cameron-tax-havens-g8-summit David Cameron has asked the senior ministers of all Britain’s overseas territories – including Bermuda, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands – to London on the eve of this month’s G8 summit to urge them to root out the multibillion-pound evasion industry by signing up to agreements to share tax information. Britain has made a clampdown on corporate and individual tax avoidance the central theme of its chairmanship of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland on 17 and 18 June, and Cameron has decided that he cannot be a credible chair of the summit if he is not seen to be trying to put Britain’s own house in order. The intensity of the pressure that Cameron will place on the 10 crown dependencies and overseas territories to be more co-operative has, however, not yet been determined, amid signs there are some disputes between Downing Street and the Treasury on what to demand, and whether excessive public pressure will lead them to refuse to co-operate. Cameron wants British offshore havens to sign an OECD convention to give mutual assistance in tax matters, which provides for the sharing of information between countries, seen as key to ending evasion. Some of the British havens have agreed to the automatic exchange of information with some western economies, but not as widely as prescribed by the convention. The prime minister plans to chair a tax and transparency conference alongside Nick Clegg on the weekend before the G8 summit itself. Cameron is looking at the possibility of the UK dependencies and overseas territories formally signing the OECD convention in the cabinet room on Saturday, but government sources said the plan could yet unravel in the face of hostility from the overseas territories. The precise constitutional relationship between the UK and the overseas territories is a matter of dispute, but some aid agencies claim the UK can in effect force the crown dependencies to close down the tax loopholes. Cameron wrote to the crown dependencies and overseas territories in May saying he wanted the G8 to “knock down the walls of company secrecy” to reveal who really owns and controls firms. The letter calling for action on tax information exchange and beneficial ownership was sent to leaders in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Many of them are furious at being labelled tax havens, and fear the basis of their economies is being threatened, and that they will be put at a competitive disadvantage. ActionAid claims nearly one in every two dollars of large corporate investment in developing countries was routed through a tax haven. It claims 98 of the FTSE 100 multinational groups have companies in tax havens. Melanie Ward, head of advocacy at ActionAid UK, said: “It is perfectly possible to achieve a G8 deal to tackle tax dodging that works in the interests of rich and poor countries alike. The prime minister has said that he will do this, but the question is whether he has the clout to achieve it. “The first test is in the UK’s own backyard, and is whether he will pull all 10 of the UK’s own tax havens – the overseas territories and crown dependencies – into line. “At the pre-G8 tax and transparency event on 15 June, David Cameron must ensure that all 10 sign up to the existing multilateral convention on tax information exchange.” Brendan Cox, spokesman for the If campaign, a coalition of 200 groups campaigning in the run-up to the G8, said: “Cameron has to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. By getting the UK house in order, he will have the opportunity to make a wider breakthrough at the summit itself on the issue of beneficial ownership, the way to get behind the anonymous shell companies.” Cameron and the chancellor, George Osborne, are still gauging how far to push the G8 on measures to make it easy to establish the real owners of companies and assets, in the face of hostility primarily from America and Canada. Osborne is also facing a push-back from business about imposing excessive regulatory burdens on companies to report their profits on a country by country basis. Ahead of the summit, Cameron will meet the European commission president, José Barroso, this week, prior to a nutrition summit this weekend. In the week running up to the G8 summit itself, Cameron will set out his vision of Britain’s role in the world and the continuing relevance of the G8.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/6/2013 10:25:13 AM
	Another contaminated water leak at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant Reuters – 19 hrs ago Reuters/Reuters - A laboratory technician chops an anchovy, which was caught close to the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, while preparing it for cesium testing at Fukushima Agricultural Technology Centre in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture May 28, 2013. REUTERS/Issei Kato TOKYO (Reuters) - The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant said it had found another leak of contaminated water on Wednesday, piling pressure on the utility to curb the problem as it seeks permission to release water to the sea. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami more than two years ago, triggering nuclear reactor meltdowns and explosions. Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, said a worker patrolling the area spotted the leak just after noon, with droplets of contaminated water leaking out between the tank's circular steel structure. Shunichi Tanaka, chief of Japan's new nuclear regulator, set up after its predecessor was discredited in the 2011 disaster, told a news conference that Tepco should deal with the problem immediately. But he said the regulator did not regard the matter as serious. The latest leak was acknowledged after Tepco said earlier this week it had detected radioactive cesium in groundwater flowing into the plant -- overturning an early finding that contamination was negligible. A spate of similar incidents and power outages plagued the facility in March and April. The incidents represent another setback for the company as it tries to reassure the public and the government that it can manage the problem of tainted water. The plant's still precarious state also serves as a reminder of the poor management of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986 as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government presses ahead with a drive to export Japan's nuclear technology. The discovery that groundwater is being contaminated before it enters the damaged reactor buildings complicates efforts to persuade local authorities and fishermen that the groundwater is safe enough to be dumped into the ocean. About 400 metric tons (441 tons) of groundwater flow daily into the reactor buildings only to be mixed with highly contaminated water that comes from cooling the melted fuel. The government ordered Tepco last week to increase storage capacity of water tanks and construct a wall of frozen earth around the four reactor buildings to stem the flow of groundwater seeping into the plant. Leaks were found in underground storage pits in April, prompting Tepco to speed up the construction of sturdier above-ground tanks. The leak discovered on Wednesday was from one of the sturdier tanks. Tepco is also trying to construct a bypass that would route the water away from the plant and into the ocean. That plan requires the agreement of fishermen who oppose plans to dump 100 metric tons of groundwater a day from the plant into the sea. (Reporting by Mari Saito, Risa Maeda and Kenichiro Hamada; Editing by Ron Popeski)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
	+1

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