Archive for the ‘British economy’ Category
Posted by seumasach on December 15, 2018
“The disclosure measure had originally been proposed by David Cameron and George Osborne in 2013, but the commitment was dropped when May became prime minister, prompting Hodge and Mitchell to act in concert to get the measure on the statute book.”
Interesting that the UK government has acted against these tax havens although they still have the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. May, then, is a safe pair of hands as far as City interests are concerned and, by the look of it, not a closet Remainer.
Guardian
1st May, 2018
Britain’s overseas territories will be forced to adopt public registers of company ownership at the end of the decade after the government conceded it would have to support a backbench amendment designed to stem the global flow of “dirty money”.
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Posted in brexit crisis, British economy | Tagged: British Overseas Territories, City of London | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 15, 2018
New African
6th January, 2017
For over 40 years, African countries have been haemorrhaging more money than they receive in aid and foreign investment. 80 per cent of these illicit financial flows are siphoned through London, giving the lie to the idea that tax havens function independently. Over the last decade alone, $1 trillion of African money has been squirrelled away into secret jurisdictions, with the full knowledge of Western governments. Khadija Sharife has spent a year examining the Panama Papers and now reveals the inner workings of a monumental scandal.
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Posted in British economy | Tagged: City of London, looting of Africa, offshore finance | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 15, 2018
“Almost 40 percent of the funds are located in the United Kingdom or its Caribbean offshore territories such as the British Virgin Islands, UNCTAD said, citing data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.”
This hit by Trump against City of London and UK offshore interests has received little commentary but goes a long way to explaining the wall of hostility towards him in the UK press. This is also confirmation of my contention that Trump has ended the special relationship at a time when the UK itself is trying to throw off the regulatory fetters of the EU (I refer, of course, to the regulation of finance). It also goes a long way to explaining why the UK has descended into political chaos, finding itself caught between the EU and the USA, between a rock and a hard place.
Japan Times
6th February, 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax reform could bring almost $2 trillion back to the United States as U.S. firms repatriate cash piles from foreign affiliates, a U.N. report said on Monday.
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Posted in Battle for Europe, British economy | Tagged: end of special relationship, trump agenda, Trump v. UK offshore interests, UK-US financial turf war | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on December 15, 2018
TruePublica
28th September, 2018
The reality is that the City of London caters for those above the law, it operates on the basis of bypassing democratic society as a whole. This has come about over time where an extraordinary ‘ gentlemen’s agreement’ has stood the test of time. Over the centuries, the head of state and his/her governments have had the need for large loans for wars and the like. The City, in exchange for such commodity, has extracted certain privileges the rest of the population do not enjoy. The end result over the time is that it now has its own jurisdiction to do pretty much as it pleases.
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Posted by seumasach on December 11, 2018
Global Research
5th december, 2018
Since it was uploaded to YouTube just ten weeks ago, Michael Oswald’s seminal documentary film on Britain and its tax haven empire has gained over 1,000,000 views. “The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire” documents how British elites created a network of tax havens after World War II and the lengths they take today to preserve it – exemplified in a chilling scene where a Jersey police officer harasses and interrupts the filmmakers’ interview with a tax haven whistleblower. Based on Nick Shaxson’s best-selling book Treasure Islands: The Men Who Stole the World, the film delivers a sobering account of Britain’s role in corrupting the global economy.
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Posted by seumasach on September 4, 2016
Independent
4th September, 2016
European economies will be thrown into “great turmoil” if the UK and EU cannot agree on a deal for Brexit that includes an element of free movement of labour, the Japanese government has warned.
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Posted in brexit crisis, British economy | Tagged: brexit fiasco | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 13, 2016
In fact, we’ve already been there: back in the last crisis the pound fell to as low as 1.05 euro without leading to a surge in exports. On the one hand the UK’s manufacturing base is depleted and on the other, as emphasized here, it is intertwined with production elsewhere. Interconnectedness makes a nonsense of Brexit which probably why in the end it will never happen. Isolationism is not an option and isolationist sentiment is merely a rejection of globalization which is no longer comfortably on our terms.
Business Insider
11th August, 2016
The argument by the pro-Brexit lobby that the fall in the pound would boost UK exports is “unsophisticated,” says Credit Suisse.
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Posted by seumasach on August 4, 2016
“A prolonged period of diminishing influence and relative economic decline is now the likely future for our nearest neighbour. The pressure point this time will not be the threat to sterling exposed by a furious US President, but rather the threat from a diversion of FDI flows seeking secure access to the EU single market.”
We need to go as far away as Dublin to find a journalist who can nonchalantly state the obvious. Thank you, John Looby!
He also rounds the argument off nicely:
“In the longer-run, this will likely see a new generation of pragmatic leaders lead the UK back into the EU. As Heath, Jenkins and others ultimately understood in the wake of Suez, they have nowhere else to go.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself!
John Looby
Business Post
4th August, 2016
Almost 60 years ago a popular and experienced Tory Prime Minister destroyed his career and plunged his country into crisis with a reckless risk which backfired spectacularly. While the retreat from Empire was never likely to be smooth, the stark weakness exposed by the debacle of Suez undoubtedly accelerated the long march to the margins.
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Posted in brexit crisis, British economy | Tagged: Foreign Direct Investment(FDI), the brexit disaster | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on August 3, 2016
“The Bank of England is asleep at the wheel again, and we will be back to beleaguered banksters begging for bailouts – and the taxpayer will be ripped off yet again, but bigger this time.”
Bail-outs are no longer permitted under EU regulations, drawn up by Michel Barnier, bete noir of the Murdoch press, so it will be interesting how they play this one post Brexit. In any case, the people should take to the streets to oppose any bailouts!
UK heading for new financial crisis ‘on grander scale than 2008’ with Bank of England ‘asleep at the wheel’, says AS
Independent
3rd August, 2016
The Bank of England’s annual stress tests of the UK’s banks, designed to ensure Britain’s lenders will not be at the heart of another destructive financial crisis, have been branded “worse than useless”, by a new report.
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Posted in brexit crisis, British economy | Tagged: brexit bailouts, no more bailouts, no more bombing!-no more bailouts! | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 30, 2016
In trying to assess the meaning of Brexit one thing is already absolutely clear: Brexit represents a rejection of the kind of top-level state-to-state engagement with China associated with George Osborne. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is over. Whether it may be revived later depends largely on whether article 50 is actually ever triggered. From a Chinese viewpoint such a shift would definitely correlate with a Clinton presidency according to a recent analysis in The Diplomat.
May had objections to Hinkley Point, says Cable
BBC
30th July, 2016
Theresa May had “objections” to a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point during the coalition, the then Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable has said.
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Posted in British economy | Tagged: brexit agenda, China-UK comprehensive strategic partnership | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 27, 2016
The implosion of the Leave camp which began on the day of their pyrrhic victory will be a sight to behold. As Farage goes on his roving commission to bring down the EU, Fox is off to sell out the country to the USA. Meanwhile Redwood and the others look down their noses at a purely imaginary scenario concocted by the British press about membership of the single market accompanied by a seven year emergency brake on immigration. They truly are no-hopers. No matter how many people support you if you have no practicable policy you are doomed.
Politics Home
27th July, 2016
New International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was slapped down by No 10 last night over comments he made about Britain’s post-Brexit trade with the EU.
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In These New Times 