Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World - Softcover

Shaxson, Nicholas

4.19

1,800 ratings by Goodreads

9781847921109: Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847921108 ISBN 13: 9781847921109

Publisher: Bodley Head, 2011

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* Dirty money, tax havens and the offshore system describe the ugliest and most secretive chapter in the history of global economic affairs.

* Tax havens have declared war on honest, law-abiding people around the world.

* Wealthy individuals hold over ten trillion dollars offshore.

* Tax havens are the most important single reason why poor people and poor countries stay poor.

* Britain and the United States are the world's two most important tax havens.

* Tax havens now lie at the very heart of the global economy. Over half of world trade, and most international lending, is processed through them.

* Tax havens have been instrumental in nearly every major economic event, in every big financial scandal, and in every financial crisis since the 1970s, including the latest global economic crisis. Treasure Islands will show how this happens and reveal what the economics text books will not tell you.

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Review:

`This unlikely page-turner slots neatly into a new genre that has emerged since the credit crunch' --Sunday Times: Culture

`an absolutely riveting book.' --The Herald, January 11, 2011

`The excellent Treasure Islands . . . Shaxson comes as close to anyone ever has in getting to the crux of the tax haven conundrum, which is to attempt to answer the question: why are they tolerated?' --Evening Standard, January 18, 2011

'Shaxson does an outstanding and socially valuable job in penetrating the impenetrable and finds a deeply shocking world.' --Nicholas Stern

'At last, a readable - indeed gripping - book which explains the nuts and bolts of tax havens. More importantly, it lays bare the mechanism that financial capital has been using to stay in charge: capturing government policy-making around the world, shaking off such irritants as democracy and the rule of law, and making sure that suckers like you and me pay for its operators' opulent lifestyles' --Misha Glenny, author of McMafia

'Treasure Islands is the best book on tax havens, ever. It shines a light in some very dark places. It reads like a thriller. The shocking thing is, it's all true. The world's suppliers of corruption services - the bankers, lawyers and accountants working from tax havens - won't want you to read this book. Which is exactly why you should' --Richard Murphy, Director of Tax Research UK

'The struggle against money power is a struggle for human freedom, and Nicholas Shaxson's investigation is a timely expos� of where the plunder is buried' --John Pilger, broadcaster and author of Heroes

'Far more than an expos�, Treasure Islands is a brilliantly illuminating, forensic analysis of where economic power really lies, and the shockingly corrupt way in which it behaves. If you're wondering how ordinary people ended up paying for a crisis caused by the reckless greed of the banking industry, this compellingly readable book provides the answers'
--David Wearing, co-editor of New Left Project

'They who sold us globalisation as a way of the whole world getting richer with fair rules, cheated us by letting the rich and powerful go "offshore". This gripping expos� should help end the scandal' --Anthony Barnett, founder of openDemocracy

'In this riveting, well-written expose, Shaxson goes deep into the largely unexamined realm of offshore money. In the process, he reveals that this shadow world is no mere sideshow, but is troublingly central to modern finance, with the US and the UK as leaders. The resulting abuses are widespread, ranging from tax revenue stripping from African nations to individuals and corporations escaping enforcement and accountability. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the hidden reasons why financial services firms have become so powerful and impossible to reform' --Yves Smith, creator of Naked Capitalism and author of Econned

Book Description:

This is the ugliest chapter in global economic affairs since slavery - and secretive offshore tax havens are at the heart of the trouble.

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