In recent weeks, citizens in many countries suffering from government budget cutbacks have been learning more and more about one of the biggest and most dangerous scams in the world: the global web of tax havens that U.S. and European politicians and bankers have nurtured over the years. The only real purpose of these havens [...]
Economics & Politics
From Prof Jeffrey D. Sachs. Sir, I wonder whether the Cayman Islands leadership knows that it is playing with fire (“Great progress by Cayman Islands”, Letters, May 2). It writes that everything is under control, that my concerns are more influenced by Hollywood movies than hard fact. Well here are a few hard facts. There [...]
From Ms Melanie Ward, Ms Sol Oyuela and others. Sir, Jeffrey Sachs’ account of tax havens’ devastating effects on the rest of the world is spot on (“Austerity exposes the global threat from tax havens”, April 30). We hope his warning will sharpen minds ahead of the Group of Seven finance ministers’ meeting on May [...]
The curtain has been pulled aside on the once secret world of tax havens, and the scale of abuse is nearly beyond reckoning. Week after week, Americans and Europeans worn down by budget austerity have learnt about the secret accounts of their politicians, tax evasion by leading companies and hot money destabilising the world economy. [...]
Children are every country’s most vital resource. This is true not just morally, but also economically. Investing in the health, education, and skills of children offers the highest economic returns to a country. A new study by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows which high-income countries are doing well when it comes to making these [...]
In 2003, Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi agreed with the US and Europe to end his pursuit of nuclear and chemical weapons in order to normalize relations with the West. Eight years later, NATO abetted his overthrow and murder. Now we are asking North Korea to end its nuclear program as we once asked of Qaddafi. [...]
President Barack Obama’s budget this week makes clear the real political equilibrium in the US. The federal government is shrinking. Discretionary spending in the new Obama budget would shrink to 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2023, compared with 7.9 per cent of GDP in 2008. Both parties have signed on to this [...]
THE 2009 economic stimulus package has come and gone. So, too, have the temporary payroll tax cuts of 2011-12. Most of the Bush-era tax cuts, in addition, have been made permanent. Yet the lasting effects of these policies have been meager. The economy is still sluggish. Unemployment remains high, especially for lower-skilled workers. Inequality of [...]
For thirty years, the Republican party has been trying to “starve the government beast” by rejecting the taxation needed to finance the public sector. The Democratic party has timorously followed along. Despite Barack Obama’s recent paeans to liberalism in his Inaugural and State of the Union addresses, the Republican agenda is very far advanced: The Age [...]
Let me be the first or among the first to wish you a very Happy Happiness Day! In case you didn’t know it, today is the first International Day of Happiness, launched by all 193 UN member states. Happiness Day doesn’t mean we’ve arrived at happiness, but it does mean that we’ve recognized that happiness [...]
