People

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Historian Bregman: “the Rich are not paying their fair share”

“how to prevent a broad social backlash – the answer is simple – stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about taxes avoidance – taxes – taxes – all the rest is bullshit” (for the top 10%)

“The main reason for the particularly high Irish GDP growth rates lies in the fact that in recent years,

attracted in large part by low corporation tax rates,

a number of large multinational corporations have relocated their economic activities,

and more specifically their underlying intellectual property, to Ireland.”

https://www.oecd.org/sdd/na/Irish-GDP-up-in-2015-OECD.pdf

two possibilities: a race to the tax-bottom (in Germany companies pay 40% income tax consumers pay 19% tax on almost all products… where does it end?)

or

social unrest – we all shall become “criminals” claim land and pay no taxes with reference to Ireland and especially Luxembourg – how well this works for them.

Sorry – this is the EU and if this is happening inside the EU and the EU is not doing anything about it – it is corruption – cancer to democracy – people need to build a wall (or block all streets) to/from Brussels and Berlin and Dublin in order to contain the corruption. (anyone inside may chose to leave or starve)

Historian Mr Bregman: “the rich are not paying their fair share”

  • “find it quiet a bewildering experience – 1500 private jets flown in here (to Davos) to speak about how we are wrecking the planet”
  • “i hear people talking the language of participation – justice – equality – transparency – almost no one raises the real issue – tax avoidance and of the rich just not paying their fair share”
  • “i feel like a fire fighter conference and no one is allowed to speak about water“
  • “something needs to change here”
  • “10 years ago the World Economic Forum asked the question ‘what must industry do to prevent a broad social backlash‘ – the answer is very simple – stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about taxes – taxes – taxes”
  • billionaire Michael Dell: “name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70% has actually worked?”
    • “i am an historian – the answer is: The USA in the 1950s – during Republican President Eisenhower the the top marginal tax rate was 91% for people like Michael Dell – the top estate tax was more than 70% for people like Michael Dell”
    • “this is not rocket science – we can talk a long time about all this stupid philanthropy themes – we can invite Bono once more – we got to be talking about taxes – taxes – taxes – all the rest is bullshit“

Was Brexit about Tax Avoidance?

(City of London wants to avoid taxes like hell) “the Conservatives (Theresa May Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019) were vehemently opposed to Tax Evasion regulations that were being proposed by the EU.

Back in 2015, Britain rejected plans announced by Brussels to combat “industrial-scale tax avoidance by the world’s biggest multinationals”. Britain had built a corporate tax haven for multinationals that included slashing corporation tax from 28% to 20%, new favorable tax regimes for multinationals with offshore financing subsidiaries, and tax breaks for patent-owning companies. As a result, Britain saw a number of large corporations like Aon, Fiat Industrial, and Starbucks’s European operations, set up headquarters in the UK with a small number of staff in order to take advantage of these tax laws.”

https://medium.com/the-jist/was-eu-tax-evasion-regulation-the-reason-for-the-brexit-referendum-980ba88a8077

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Mario Marcel: High-level policy panel discussion on central bank digital currencies

Remarks by Mr Mario Marcel, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, at the “High-level Policy Panel Discussion on Central Bank Digital Currencies”, OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum, Paris, 12 September 2019.

Zaldivar on TEDx (in Spanish)

Central bank speech  |

19 September 2019
by  Mario Marcel
PDF full text

 (1,304kb)

|  11 pages

Disruptive technologies in Finance or “FinTech” are transforming the financial industry landscape, challenging traditional business models. These technologies have been able to address some gaps in the traditional financial industry that can be grouped into five categories: Access, Speed, Cost, Transparency, and Security.

Leveraging on open-source technologies and Smartphone penetration, FinTech has seen fast adoption, disrupting all areas of the financial services such as payments, investments, savings & lending, insurance and risk management.

One example of the innovation across different financial services is this research framework from the World Economic Forum. Fintech innovations are identified and grouped into clusters, which in turn are a result of innovation triggered by common themes that cut across financial services. These themes are enabled by different technologies.

src: https://www.bis.org/review/r190919d.htm

pdfs:

https://www.bcentral.cl/documents/20143/31860/mmc12092019.pdf/79f78b4a-0e6e-241c-93cc-4f4b240c1ce2?t=1568303613015

backup mirror: High-level Policy Panel Discussion on Central Bank Digital Currencies Remarks by Mario Marcel, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile mmc12092019.pdf

Chile: Capital flows and the migration of risks – the recent Chilean experience

Remarks by Mr Mario Marcel, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, at the Session 4 “Next vulnerabilities: capital flows and the migration of risks to new corners of the financial system” at the High-level policy seminar on “Integration or Framentation? International Capital Flows in the Post-Crisis World”, arranged by the OECD and the Ministry of Finance of Japan, as Governance of G20 in 2019, Paris, 11 September 2019.

Central bank speech  |

19 September 2019
by  Mario Marcel
PDF full text

 (1,161kb)

|  12 pages

1. Issues for discussion

a. Which new sources of vulnerabilities are building up a decade after the 2008 crisis?

– Risks associated with the growing importance of non-bank lenders. In some EMEs, this may result in credit lending going informal due to a relatively higher cost in credit provision due to regulation.

– Risks that can emerge from a less developed financial infrastructures outside the regulatory perimeter.

– Risks attributed to disruptive FinTech activities, such as the development of crypto-assets markets, as well as cybersecurity issues.

– Risks and challenges associated with the changing nature of banks’ business model. In particular, those coming from the internationalization of banks’ activities.

b. How to better consider a cost-benefit framework for financial regulation, such as currency-based measures (CBM)?

– While the banking regulation and supervision arising from the 80s-banking crisis was restrictive in several ways, it was supported by sound monetary and fiscal policies.

src: https://www.bis.org/review/r190919c.htm

more from the Author:

Mario Marcel: Chile – the view from the Central Bank

Presentation by Mr Mario Marcel, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, at the “Southern Cone & Andean Opportunities Conference”, arranged by JP Morgan, Santiago de Chile, 26 April 2017.

Central bank speech  |

27 June 2017
by  Mario Marcel
PDF full text

 (430kb)

|  11 pages

Current macroeconomic conditions and prospects in the monetary policy scenario

1. The last few months have brought mixed signals for the Chilean economy. On the one hand, 2016 ended in a low tone, with a slowdown in activity and inflation. A series of one-off events extended economic weakness into the first quarter of 2017, lowering forecasts for the year as a whole. On the other, the global outlook appears more favorable, both for the growth of trade partners and terms of trade. This suggests a gradual improvement of economic prospects for the Chilean economy which should be further supported by an expansionary monetary policy as long as inflation remains below target.

https://www.bis.org/review/r170627a.htm

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After 1989: Berlin builds fences and trenches – right in front of the Bundestag?

2019-07: “Security delusion without meaning and understanding: a deep trench is to be pulled in front of the Bundestag.

It will alienate politics and the population even further.

Castle-defense-ditch, walls, fences: the Bundestag digs itself in.

For the ditch and the 2.5-Meter-high wall, which is hard to hide, send a fatal Signal: the parliament is sealing itself off.

Politicians are scared.” (source)

“The Reichstag building in Berlin is to be better protected according to federal plans. For this purpose, a two-and-a-half-Meter deep and ten-Meter wide trench is to be erected across the square of the Republic. In addition, a security fence is supposed to shield the site around the West Portal of the Bundestag building, reported the Berliner Zeitung.” (source)

Right now it is like this:

https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/plenum/sitzverteilung_19wp
https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/plenum/sitzverteilung_19wp

One has to know:

  • what  now is Germany – was at in beginning many small countries with their own laws, governments, borders, money and so on – and still is – some laws are still decided (education) on the local government level.
  • Same for the EU – there might be decisions that make sense to be taken on the grander level – but this should be the exception – not the rule – because fascism simply means concentration of power and concentration of power should neither be Berlin nor Brussels about – if it is – it shall be abolished.
  • CDU/CSU (Merkel, Seehoofer and Co) = conservative center-right party has – with the inability to find a good response for the refugee crisis – once more shown – how incompetent the German government operates on behalf of it’s people – piling up problems, creating more and more new taxes, solving almost no problems.
    • former finanical minister long serving member of CDU/CSU parliament Scheuble says Germany has never been independent since 1949 – thus it is ridiculous to think of Germany as being independent and any “governance” is ridiculous
      • if we consider this a truth – who is controlling Germany?
        • is it the US-intelligence?
        • is it big companies with their thousands of lobbyists with a free pass to the government building?
        • who or what is it – that keeps the Berlin government from making good decisions? (constantly eroding the trust in the Berlin government)
    • CDU/CSU lost the majority of seats and had to form a coalition – the question was: with whom?
  • SPD (center-left)
    • used to be the second largest party
    • would have had the option to do a coalition with Green (ecological party) and “Die Linke” (left party) (red-red-green)
    • but decided to join forces/do a “coalition of corruption” with the  CDU/CSU
    • basically the message to the people was:
      • power is more important to us than our principles (giving in to lies and corruption, giving up on their own values, the will to fight for the “small people”, for example the coalition contract included a cut for educational spending, wtf seriously?)
        • this has led to a massive erosion inside the SPD and also the voting and member base has eroded massively
  • “Piraten Partei” / Pirate Party: (center-left)
    • people got so frustrated with their current government’s inability to solve problems, they voted for whoever alternative is there.
    • unfortunately for all the elder people “Pirate Party” is not a sexy name – it sounds like a threat
    • the Pirate Party was to obsessed with “free WIFI” that people did not believe they could solve any other problem but “free WIFI” (they would have surely solved that problem in no time, but again, older people care about their pension funds, not “free WIFI”).
    • at the beginning the Pirate Party did not know if they wanted to absorb the right-wing frustration of people, they decided not to.
  • AfD (right-wing) “Alternative für Deutschland”
    • the astonishing success of an “alternative party” like the “Pirate Party” inspired Dr Bernd Lucke to create a new party named “Alternative for Germany”
    • same problem: right-wingers knocked on the door of the AfD and asked if they are welcome with all their hate, and Bernd Lucke – decided to say no – and was kicked out of his own party: see this:  “Break with the right-wing extremists in the AfD!”:
      • ‘In an open letter to “the extreme right-wing members” of the AfD, he wrote: “The AfD had written once, ‘courage for truth’ on the flags. It has now become the silence of cowardice. You Break Your Silence! You break with right-wing extremists in the AfD! Exclude them and ask them to leave your party.”‘
      • Lucke created a new Party “ALPHA” but failed to secure any public support.
    • the AfD is – similar to Trump – “the return of the phenomenon demoagogery“
    • the AfD still has to proof – to have any solutions to the problems people have – we all hope – the solution are not similar to those solutions Hitler offered.
    • USA (ranks #19 in the world by spending % of GDP for education and more cuts to come:
    • Germany (ranks #35 in the world by spending % of GDP for education and CDU+SPD also plan to cut it even more… because it is easier to rule over idiots, than to actually solve problems)

resume:

  • everyone want to live in peace
  • everyone wants to stay healthy
  • everyone wants a affordable housing (a roof over their head)
  • everyone wants affordable clean water, affordable healthy food, affordable renewable energy and travels
  • everyone wants quality of life
  • everyone wants friends
  • everyone wants a family, children
  • nobody wants to stay stupid – be exploited – be cheated – be lied to – get cancer and so on
  • if a government (and this can scientifically be measured) fails to solve problems – it shall be abandoned.
  • destroying the status quo is the goal of left and right wing, but after the destruction – of course – they both want to be in power
  • the rich – always in fear of their companies, Porsche and real estate being confiscated by left-wing parties – probably will always give funding to whoever is against this – in 1933 this was Hitler, as Thyssen – a German steel magnat that fled to Argentina and wrote this book:

latest news:

  • public radio reports – that because of the “friday for future demonstrations” the German Parliament decides to put tax on CO2 – thus raising the costs of gas (fuel, oil and coal?) by 3 Cents…
  • … well is this a clever response? NO! look at France! Macron wanted to do EXACTLY the same – what was the result? The streets of Paris were burning for weeks.
  • what would have been an intelligent response?
    • actually solve the problem – without raising taxes even further (SMUs pay 40% taxes on their income, employees (without children) also 40% … every Euro spend is double and triple taxed)
    • build infrastructure so people can actually use the bicycle (you might be laughing, but it is common problem, that people living on the country side can not go to the city by bike – because of bad roads – because nobody planted for them)
    • give people incentives to produce, store and consume (!) their own energy
      • electricity (solar + batteries)
      • heating (solar geothermic, geothermic or heat-pump)

  • NOT FUCKING RAISE TAXES ON FUEL THAT IS ALREADY TAXED 70%!

nobody wants demagoguery and populism to succeed and cause even more problems

for this to avoid – the “established” parties or even the system would need to be reform.

the “established” parties will be replaced – by replaced by what?

the current system will be replaced – by replaced by what?

A democratic system is like software – you can not think of it as “finished” – it needs to be constantly be improved, changed, experimented.

Look at Iceland and Switzerland – there democracy is way more dynamic and alive.

  • governments need to be less corrupt and give funding to independent research groups to create new forms of democracy.
  • the big chance of the EU is: that governments learn from each other – who is doing what good and copy it.
    • (educational system of Finland = way better than of the rest of EU and the world… why not copy it?)