Panama papers – the dark side in a nutshell

Written By: - Date published: 8:13 am, April 15th, 2016 - 77 comments
Categories: capitalism, class war, corruption - Tags: , , , ,

Kudos to Felix Geiringer for this, which seems to sum up the darkest side of the Panama Papers in a nutshell:

terrorism civil liberty and tax evasion

77 comments on “Panama papers – the dark side in a nutshell ”

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  1. One Anonymous Bloke 1
    15 April 2016 at 8:52 am

    The original source is Felix Geiringer: “…I just used a screen shot of my own text to cheat the word limit. …”

  2. adam 2
    15 April 2016 at 9:09 am

    Well that is 4 sentences which sum up the insanity quite nicely.

  3. greywarshark 3
    15 April 2016 at 10:21 am

    The word ‘nutshell’ sparks a vision. Panama Papers-tax rorts and wealth retention-housing bubble-unaffordable necessities-search for shelter-nutshell.

    To paraphrase Monty Python and their Four Yorkshiremen? “We’d have thought we were in heaven if we lived in a nutshell!’

  4. ianmac 4
    15 April 2016 at 10:26 am

    Someone said that Nicky Hagar as member of the International Investigative Journalists, has been working on the Panama papers for some time. (Russell Brown?) If so it will take a long time but the NZ angle if any, will appear eventually.
    (I hope the Hagar raid was not related to that work?)

    • Puckish Rogue 4.1
      15 April 2016 at 10:36 am

      IF theres anything linking NZ politicians to this and that’s pretty big if you can bet Hager will sit on it right up until, coincidently of course, the last few weeks of the 2017 election

      and by then it’ll too late to get the other side of the story because, you know, deadlines

      • ianmac 4.1.1
        15 April 2016 at 10:44 am

        Well that would be a surprise PR. Of course National will not publish anything at all just before an election to outwit or mislead the voters, would they?
        Any way. I think Nicky has much higher ideals than your petty politics.

        • Puckish Rogue 4.1.1.1
          15 April 2016 at 10:49 am

          Naah it just that his ideals align with your own so you give him the pass but its all good, we’re all guilty of that

          • Stuart Munro 4.1.1.1.1
            15 April 2016 at 11:00 am

            It doesn’t occur to you that it might take some time to fact check even a small proportion of 11.5 million documents?

            Of course Gnats don’t fact check so you wouldn’t understand.

            • Puckish Rogue 4.1.1.1.1.1
              15 April 2016 at 11:03 am

              Shame he didn’t spend a bit of time trying to get the other side of the story as well, you know being a journalist and all

              • Draco T Bastard …
                15 April 2016 at 11:17 am

                There is no other side to the story. The simple fact is that National is corrupt and Hager showed that. Just not in time for people to be fully informed.

                Same goes for the rich hiding their wealth so as to avoid taxes. There is no other side to the story – they’re all corrupt and need to be in jail to protect the rest of us from them.

                • Puckish Rogue …
                  15 April 2016 at 11:58 am

                  Then Nicky Hager is not a journalist but merely someone spouting an opinion

                  • adam …
                    15 April 2016 at 12:00 pm

                    yes dear

                  • Matthew Whitehead …
                    15 April 2016 at 12:07 pm

                    Nope. A journalist is supposed to report a story and try to ascertain where the facts lie- they not only can be partisan, they have a duty to be partisan when the facts support one party over the other. Journalists should only “tell both sides” when both sides have legitimate points. Google “view from nowhere” if you want to see people talking about that in more detail.

                    The reason we’re not used to this happening is that modern newspapers aren’t really journalism anymore, and most blogs don’t really replace what the original newspaper journalists did, because they serve narrow constituencies and are “citizen journalists” (ie. they’re under-resourced) rather than actual journalists.

                    • Puckish Rogue …
                      15 April 2016 at 12:45 pm

                      Well I concede that is true but one of the advantages I find with blogs and what they report is that while they’re biased at least you know where their biases are, something you can’t always tell with journalists on the tv news

                    • Matthew Whitehead …
                      15 April 2016 at 4:51 pm

                      Yeah I agree that it is openly superior having people acknowledge their viewpoints and conflicts of interest in a frank way. I think if we get serious journalism back in a big way in the future, this is one of the lessons they could learn from blogs, while still minimising their bias- we all have certain opinions and values, and trying to pretend yours don’t exist when writing an article is stupid. You should acknowledge them, try to be a fair arbiter of fact, and write as frankly and carefully as possible while still being engaging.

                  • Stuart Munro …
                    15 April 2016 at 1:13 pm

                    Nope.

                    Your post-marxist linguistic bullshit won’t stretch that far.

                    Some things are objectively true: like that Bill English has lost us $120 billion for nothing. This is not opinion but measurable fact, like the outcome of a coin toss – no amount of your spin can turn a head into a tail or a 0.3% growth rate into a 3% growth rate.

                    Hager regularly wins prizes for objective journalism. He does not sensationalise.

                    That fact was the Gnats were and are, not merely as dirty as kleptocracies get, but economically worse than useless as well. Really they are worse than useless at everything.

                    We can generalise safely about the Gnats across the board – child poverty? Done nothing. Housing? Selling it to cover their economic failings. Employment? Major tactic is lying and bringing in migrant labour. Intelligence services? Used to attack the more competent parties. Education? No fucking idea whatsoever. Fishing? Still on 1% of Japan’s from the same sized resource.

                    Real rightwingers – as opposed to brainwashed trolls – would be concerned by some of those failures – they want prosperity as much as the Left.

                    • The lost sheep …
                      15 April 2016 at 1:44 pm

                      Fishing? Still on 1% of Japan’s from the same sized resource.
                      You mean the rapidly disappearing world fish stocks that Japan have been a lead plunderer of for decades?
                      http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/19/overfishing-causing-global-catches-to-fall-three-times-faster-than-estimated

                      While New Zealand is one of only 4 countries in the world attempting to manage a sustainable fishing resource?
                      Not catching as much as Japan is a bloody good thing you pillock.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      15 April 2016 at 2:26 pm

                      Quota is not a success, name a species it has save: Orange Roughy? Guess again. Hake? Nope. King Crabs off Alaska Nope. Doesn’t work – economists love it though – it pretends a resource is money. Real fisheries regimes want population scientists not economists designing things.

                      NZ receives the lowest per kilo returns on seafood in the world. Like dairy – you moron – and milk powder, companies have chosen the least valuable commodity, because they are too lazy to learn to diversify.

                      Instead of developing a sophisticated sustainable industry that supports the local population, an overcapitalised extractive export industry founded on massive slave boats was imposed, all but eliminating the smaller local fishermen who would have been the core of an artisanal fishery that is sustainable and has greatly lower capital and carbon costs.

                      1% of Japan is not a remotely credible performance – even though 100% of Japan might not be desirable. It shows unequivocally that NZ governance under National is worse than useless.

                    • Henry Filth …
                      15 April 2016 at 2:30 pm

                      “That fact was the Gnats were and are, not merely as dirty as kleptocracies get. . . ”

                      If you believe that, you really have led a sheltered life and do need to get out more.

                      Rhetoric is all very well, but you should respect the bounds of reality.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      15 April 2016 at 2:56 pm

                      They’re as dirty as Mugabe – just not as murderous. Yet.

                    • The lost sheep …
                      15 April 2016 at 4:05 pm

                      @ Stuart Munro.

                      2 things to say.
                      The QMS was brought in by Labour.
                      How happy I am that you are not guiding our Fisheries management.

              • adam …
                15 April 2016 at 11:54 am

                yes dear

              • adam …
                15 April 2016 at 11:54 am

                yes dear

        • Magisterium 4.1.1.2
          15 April 2016 at 1:36 pm

          Hager is good at what he does. Part of being good at what he does is knowing when his work is going to have the greatest impact.

          Hager doesn’t break important stories in non-election years.

          • reason 4.1.1.2.1
            16 April 2016 at 1:27 am

            Magisterium and puckish are just parroting the National lie about Hager and the timing of his Nationals dirty politics book release…… it’s a cheap shitty smear from ugly unpleasant posters acting in their usual bad faith.

            The book was caused by Nationals corrupt, dishonest and totally unethical behavior………… It details and shows amongst other things how Slater, Farrar and many many others worked in co-ordination with Keys Nat Govt and its abuses of state power to run a big shit slinging smear machine ………. Nicky Hager would have released the book 5 years ago if he had the information then……. but gosh darn the Nats were keeping their abuses of power and two faced sleaze secret.

            The release date was determined by when Nicky H received RawSharks information regarding two faced John and nationals dirty politics team.

            Aside from Magisterium and puckish both spreading a crosby/textor type lie they are also projecting their own lack of ethics or values onto their target …. Everyone here knows they are the ones cursed with being unpleasant manipulative arse-holes, not Nicky Hager…. He’d probably forgive them which I think would just make the clowns hate him more 😉 .

            Lots of threats to sue came out against Nicky as national dirt bags sought to pretend that they were clean and decent ……….. Nat mp Mark Mitchell, the ex-police dog bite trainer and ‘security expert/mercenary ‘ ( he made big dollars helping make Iraq secure & safe), was one who threatened to sue Nicky……

            But Mitchell, like all the other ‘righr wing’ bad sorts named in the book has totally failed to back up his hollow words and ‘defend their reputations’…….

            Instead we are left with pathetic dishonest trolls who spread lies and smears about Nicky whenever they can …………..

            They might be suffering from that “deranged key syndrome” reddellusion was trying to warn me about ……..

      • Matthew Whitehead 4.1.2
        15 April 2016 at 10:54 am

        You say this like other journalists never sit on stories to time them effectively for maximum exposure. It is unfortunately how things work now.

        • Puckish Rogue 4.1.2.1
          15 April 2016 at 11:02 am

          Well no, I mean the guy wants to make money from his books (and fair enough) so of course he wants maximum exposure for it so during the election is definitely the best time to publish

          Doesn’t mean I can’t comment on the sheer cynicism of it

          • Matthew Whitehead 4.1.2.1.1
            15 April 2016 at 11:37 am

            Sure, he needs to make money from his career. But I’ve actually met and talked to Nicky Hager, and can confirm he also times his exposés because he genuinely cares about the issues he writes about and wants them to have a political impact.

            • Puckish Rogue 4.1.2.1.1.1
              15 April 2016 at 11:52 am

              Sure and putting on my politically neutral hat I’d have thought that he’d have achieve greater political impact with his Dirty Politics book if he’d started to drip feed the allegations through the media a month or so before the official election campaign started and continued it up until the last week of the election rather then publish a book during the election

              Mind you we’re always wise after the event

              • adam …
                15 April 2016 at 11:55 am

                yes dear

              • Matthew Whitehead …
                15 April 2016 at 11:58 am

                But the thing is knowing there IS a book coming has exactly the same impact as drip-feeding, so I’m not sure that’s true. There was a lot of coverage of Dirty Politics prior to its release even though nobody knew what it was going to be about.

                • Puckish Rogue …
                  15 April 2016 at 12:04 pm

                  Yes I guess that’s also true, I just wonder if with the benefit of hindsight he would have done things differently…guess we’ll never know

                  • adam …
                    15 April 2016 at 12:06 pm

                    yes dear

                  • Matthew Whitehead …
                    15 April 2016 at 12:10 pm

                    I mean, obviously there’s a profit motive there from Nicky, and a certain bias in terms of what sorts of things he’s interested in covering, (hence why when he hit Helen Clark’s government it was on genetic engineering as opposed to some dumb right-wing criticism like not giving tax cuts) but he never lets it get in the way of doing actual journalism.

              • ianmac …
                15 April 2016 at 1:54 pm

                You know Puckish that the moment Nicky started drip feeding, the Key Machine would have leaped in with a Court Order suspending the further publication. Until after the Election of course.

                • Puckish Rogue …
                  15 April 2016 at 2:01 pm

                  That’s a fair call

                • Sacha …
                  15 April 2016 at 5:29 pm

                  Have we heard yet who funded a QC for Slater to head off further discussion about #dirtypolitics in the last couple of weeks of the election campaign?

                • Matthew Hooton …
                  20 April 2016 at 4:21 am

                  The Supreme Court would never uphold such an order. Hager has nothing to fear legally from seeking comment from those his stories are about. He doesn’t seek comment because that might undermine the tale he is spinning.

                  • Gristle …
                    20 April 2016 at 6:57 am

                    Your comment about the Supreme Court has elements that do not stack up.
                    1. Having to the Supreme Court to consider the order implies going through lower realms of the judiciary first.
                    2. Court cases take time, effort and money. The higher up the case goes the more time, effort and money. Do you think Hager has the money?
                    3. Putting it into the courts effectively parks the issues and the media backs away from mentioning it.

                    Heavying up with lawyers sounds more like the PR advice you would give to the DIrty Politics practioners.

              • Trey …
                15 April 2016 at 6:42 pm

                If they were merely ‘allegations’ with no foundation in truth wouldn’t someone have sued him? Key, Slater, Hooten, Collins, Lusk…… surely one of them would have sued him if he had made shit up? In that they didn’t sue him surely what he wrote must have been true.

      • Anno1701 4.1.3
        15 April 2016 at 12:00 pm

        “IF theres anything linking NZ politicians to this and that’s pretty big if you can bet Hager will sit on it right up until, coincidently of course, the last few weeks of the 2017 election ”

        so what

        thats just good business, something you should admire & emulate !

        • Puckish Rogue 4.1.3.1
          15 April 2016 at 12:03 pm

          Hey I’m not saying its good business (it is and good on him for that) but it doesn’t mean I have to like it nor call it out for what it is

          • Anno1701 4.1.3.1.1
            15 April 2016 at 12:05 pm

            “but it doesn’t mean I have to like it”

            you should NEVER let ethics get in the way of business PR, they aren’t very compatible

            you need to get on board, its how capitalism works !

      • Gangnam Style 4.1.4
        15 April 2016 at 12:42 pm

        Hooton said the same about Hager a week ago & you already repeated the smear about 2-3 days ago. Repeat & rinse, polly wanna cracker, you are kidding no one.

      • weka 4.1.5
        15 April 2016 at 1:21 pm

        I hope that Hager doesn’t release another book just before the next election, but for different reasons than you are talking about.

        Bearing in mind that we don’t know when the next election will be, do you have any evidence that Hager deliberately times the release of his books to coincide with the pre-election period, in the way you just stated (eg he holds onto the book until that time)? Because my understanding was that Dirty Politics was rushed out to get it out ahead of the election because it was so relevant to the election that Hager felt it would be wrong to publish it post-election.

        • Puckish Rogue 4.1.5.1
          15 April 2016 at 1:30 pm

          Of course I have no evidence unless you count the contents of his hard drive I just happened to “acquire” just kidding…or am I?

          But seriously why wouldn’t you want him to release another book just before the lection?

          • adam 4.1.5.1.1
            15 April 2016 at 1:31 pm

            yes dear

          • BM 4.1.5.1.2
            15 April 2016 at 1:34 pm

            Probably because it’s detrimental the to left vote.

            Dirty politics sunk the left at the last election, I guess she doesn’t want a repeat of that.?

            • Puckish Rogue 4.1.5.1.2.1
              15 April 2016 at 1:42 pm

              Hmm I hadn’t thought of that, hes not a politician so he probably does learn from his mistakes

            • Stuart Munro 4.1.5.1.2.2
              15 April 2016 at 3:46 pm

              Yup – the PM and Whaleoil should be horsewhipped for it – the scoundrels – nothing they won’t do to retain power. Wouldn’t be so bad if they showed some evidence of competence – but they wreck everything they touch. NZ is infinitely worse for the Key regime – 300 000 hungry children cry to heaven for justice against this despicable shambles of a government.

              • Puckish Rogue …
                15 April 2016 at 3:55 pm

                Forsooth you craven cur! I shall not have ye expunge the good character of the esteemed Mr John Key esq, I challenge you good sir to a duel at dawn

                Choose your weapons well and prepare yourself at the alter of the almighty to defend your honour!

          • weka 4.1.5.1.3
            15 April 2016 at 1:43 pm

            “Of course I have no evidence unless you count the contents of his hard drive I just happened to “acquire” just kidding…or am I?”

            In other words, you just told an outright lie about Hager. Glad we sorted that out.

        • Matthew Hooton 4.1.5.2
          20 April 2016 at 4:27 am

          Presumably it would also be wrong for him to publish his next book – which he says is “one of the most important projects that I could imagine in my life” – after the next election too. So unless it is published this year, we can safely assume it will be published in the lead up to the Sept 17 election.

          • weka 4.1.5.2.1
            20 April 2016 at 12:54 pm

            That’s s bit abstract. What’s the difference between December and January? More pertinent is a week before the election, a month before, 6 months before etc. probably he should just publish it when it’s ready.

      • Whateva next? 4.1.6
        15 April 2016 at 6:47 pm

        Why not publish at a time when contents are most relevant? I.e to inform people about to vote just how the incumbents operate. Makes sense to me.

    • Sacha 4.2
      15 April 2016 at 5:24 pm

      Hager was working on a *previous* leak about tax havens. People recently republished posts from then, and naturally Hooters used that to stir some paranoia.

  5. Sabine 5
    15 April 2016 at 10:47 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78649571/andrew-gunn-pm-poopoos-panama-papers.html

    Quote: Prime Minister, is New Zealand a tax haven?

    Of course it’s not.

    Why do you say that?

    Because a tax haven is an offshore location where entities base themselves in order to minimise tax, and it’s all a big secret.

    And New Zealand is?

    An offshore location where entities base themselves in order to minimise tax, and it’s not a big secret at all.

    And that’s not a tax haven?

    More of a tax paradise I would have thought. Hah! Work with me here, I’m the Minister of Tourism, I’m trying to make New Zealand sound attractive.

    Do you want New Zealand to be attractive to tax dodgers?

    I wouldn’t call them tax dodgers.

    What would you call them?

    Gustav, Ferdinand, Monty, something like that I’d imagine. If I knew them. Which I don’t. Look, New Zealand is a small country and the key to us getting on in the world is getting on with the world. Being nice to everyone and don’t mind their little foibles.” Quote end.

  7. Brillo 7
    15 April 2016 at 1:48 pm

    What a lot of deluded people think there is a fortune to be made writing and publishing books in New Zealand, especially books which sell only in this country because of their local focus.

    Hager could make far more in six months writing in advertising or public relations or as a Parliamentary press secrtary than he could in years of book writing.

    If money were his aim, this is what he’d be doing already.

    • Puckish Rogue 7.1
      15 April 2016 at 3:03 pm

      He’s not doing too badly as it is, probably able to live quite comfortably

      http://www.parliament.nz/resource/0000028360

      I mean he appears to own or have interests in 73 and 73b Grafton Road, Roseneath, Wellington as well as land at 113 Te Anau Road, Hataitai, Wellington

      So I wouldn’t go crying poverty for him just yet

      Although the capitalist side of me thinks well done, he owns enough property to allow him to do the things he wants to do which is a pretty good place for him to be in

  8. The Other Mike 8
    15 April 2016 at 2:44 pm

    And in breaking news:

    “The five largest economies in the European Union have agreed to share information on secret owners of businesses and trusts.

    It is a concerted attempt to show their leaders are responding to public concern over the Panama Papers leak.

    The UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have agreed to the data exchange.
    Treasury officials told the BBC the move would make it harder for businesses and wealthy individuals to operate without paying correct taxes.

    Information on the ultimate “beneficial owners” of companies and trusts would now be automatically exchanged.”

    Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36049817

  9. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrel 9
    15 April 2016 at 10:43 pm

    The tax dodging is getting out of hand. Senior British politician failing to declare three pensions:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/13/jeremy-corbyn-failed-to-declare-third-pension-on-tax-return/

    Aren’t you sick of them flouting the rules?

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 9.1
      15 April 2016 at 11:58 pm

      I see whale oil is also pushing this one. The Daily Telegraph has been openly and hysterically hostile to Corbyn from day one and written anything about Corbyn in that trashy rag should be taken with a large grain of salt.

      In fact it seems Corbyn paid too much tax – his pension had been correctly included in his tax calculation but he mistakenly declared too much income elsewhere in his return.

      Ole Ole Whale Oil.