5 out of 5 stars
As one of the little people, you will find that the rules are more ruthlessly applied to anything that you try and do. If you are fortunate enough to be able to pay in a large cheque to your bank then there are all sorts of hoops that you have to jump through to prove that you are not money laundering. However, if you are much richer then banks will be falling over themselves to ensure that they are going to be custodians of your money and they are discreet in their questioning as to where the money has actually come from, or if it is even yours.
When the money disappears into this global finance system, the chances of the original owner of it being able to ever get it back again is almost nil. It is laundered and then becomes available for the multibillionaire as a tax-free asset to spend on another yacht or a house on a tropical island that their newly bought private jet can whisk them to.
Whilst corruption has been a problem that we have had for millennia, we are now at a point where it is difficult to tell apart the good guys from the bad guys as the grey area is now the entire banking system.
In this book, Bullough tries to shine a light into this dark pit he is calling Moneyland. But the people that make up the global super-rich really do not want other people looking in to see what they are doing and knowing the ways that they hide their money from tax officials governments and in the case of many politicians, from the people that they are supposed to be serving.
I will not say any more than that, because, I want you to find this book and read it yourself. I am amazed that he has managed to find out as much as he has to write the stories in this book. Mostly because the people that have got the money by fair means and foul really really do not want you to know what methods they use to hide it way. He makes some tentative suggestions of how we can fix it, but those with money can often wriggle out of any imposition of rules because of their great wealth. I hope it will make you angry too, as reading this made me feel helpless that we are at a point now where we cannot do anything.
Leave a Reply