8 Comments
Nov 13, 2021Liked by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Bravo! Bravo!

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Curious about South Dakota's role/history in this, I looked around and found this disturbing summary:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-american-tax-haven-why-the-super-rich-love-south-dakota-trust-laws

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Nov 3, 2021Liked by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

For far too long, this nation has been afflicted with what is known as regulatory capture, where our oligarchs had so much power that they could stifle most regulatory attempts to control their activity. This was seen in the stifling of the Clayton and Sherman anti-trust acts. Even though these regulations were on the books, they were rarely used, therefore we ended up with monopolies and oligopolies that destroyed competition and fixed prices. It's hard to call that capitalism. Anti-kleptocracy laws run the same risk as the anti-trust laws; they might be skirted by those who don't want to obey the law. The specter of lobbying will always be a factor, as long as it is legal. Congress can be bribed to look the other way.

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Revocation of corporate charters should also be used as a means to stop kleptocratic and other antisocial, antidemocracy activities by corporations---and labelling such revocation as "socialist" should NOT dissuade it.

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I always used to think of the places like the Cayman Islands when I thought of off shore ways to hide or launder dirty money. Its just mind boggling to now contemplate South Dakota as a haven for such kleptocratic money laundering schemes. Not only am I hopeful because of the Corporate Transparency Act, which was passed over Trump's veto, I am also hopeful the investigations into Trumps luxury real estate businesses will lead to criminal indictments for international money laundering with Russian oligarchs. Except for Deutsche Bank, no other bank would lend money or do business with Trump after his many failed businesses, and seven or so bankruptcies. Why?

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Nov 3, 2021Liked by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

It's good to hear he's optimistic about fixing this, but I can't imagine why. So long as there are countless hubs to store billions safely and quietly, like in the US, nothing will change. And when some get shut down, others will pop up in their place. Multiple US states are tax/money havens, and London is practically owned by the Russian oligarchy. But I'll keep an open mind and hope knowledgable people like Mr. Michel are right.

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Very concerned about what's said in this interview. It's horrifying and just plain wrong. Delaware is a shelter for these lowlives? Could this be a reason Biden hasn't done much about corruption at all? Why he chose Garland for DOJ and Wray for FBI? He knew neither would bust up his interests or the interests of his friends who use his state as a haven? Honestly wondering. Not saying I know or suspect. But, the shoe seems to fit...

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