Treasure Islands
Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A thrilling ride inside the world of tax havens and corporate masterminds
While the United States experiences recession and economic stagnation and European countries face bankruptcy, experts struggle to make sense of the crisis. Nicholas Shaxson, a former correspondent for the Financial Times and The Economist, argues that tax havens are a central cause of all these disasters.
In this hard hitting investigation he uncovers how offshore tax evasion, which has cost the U.S. 100 billion dollars in lost revenue each year, is just one item on a long rap sheet outlining the damage that offshoring wreaks on our societies. In a riveting journey from Moscow to London to Switzerland to Delaware, Shaxson dives deep into a vast and secret playground where bankers and multinational corporations operate side by side with nefarious tax evaders, organized criminals and the world's wealthiest citizens. Tax havens are where all these players get to maximize their own rewards and leave the middle class to pick up the bill.
With eye opening revelations, Treasure Islands exposes the culprits and its victims, and shows how:
*Over half of world trade is routed through tax havens
*The rampant practices that precipitated the latest financial crisis can be traced back to Wall Street's offshoring practices
*For every dollar of aid we send to developing countries, ten dollars leave again by the backdoor
The offshore system sits much closer to home than the pristine tropical islands of the popular imagination. In fact, it all starts on a tiny island called Manhattan. In this fast paced narrative, Treasure Islands at last explains how the system works and how it's contributing to our ever deepening economic divide.
Customer Reviews
Could be sequel to Economic Hitman
If you enjoyed having your eyes opened by "The Economic Hitman" you will greatly enjoy this book as well. Well written with interesting stories that lends itself to an easy and inspiring read. As with both of these books the facts are presented here so a reader can gain insight into the positives and negatives of the various scenarios. An example of this is, are there some benefits to the US making efforts to make itself attractive for international investment as a tax haven? Yes, but there are some tradeoffs to this as well. I enjoy this type of writing because it helps the reader to look for the "gray" instead of naively believing something is merely Black or White.
Prepare to be enlightened.
Vitally important part of the economic crisis picture
I have read about 20 books on the crisis, and this one treats an essential part of the picture the rest leave out - the impact of the never regulated "offshore" sector, and challenges the common geographic understanding of this sector, including the City of London, Delaware, and other "sites" that allow international financial elites and multinational companies to operate without any regulation or oversite, to the detriment of the rest of their societies, with the most harm suffered by the developing world.