How the Ultra-Rich Hide their Billions
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On today's episode Brian Becker and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the report from the Tax Justice Network, a well-known international organization, finding that the United States is now the country with the greatest degree of financial secrecy in the entire world. Banks and corporations move in the shadows, concealing their operations and vast wealth. What are the ultra rich up to behind the scenes?
Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | According to the Tax Justice Network, a well-known international organization, the United States |
| 0:08.6 | is now the country with the greatest degree of financial secrecy in the entire world. |
| 0:14.8 | Banks and corporations move in the shadows, concealing their operations and vast wealth. |
| 0:20.7 | What are the ultra-rich up to behind the scenes? |
| 0:24.8 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded |
| 0:30.9 | impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only realizable, but an imperative business. I'm your host, Brian Becker. the biggest stories related to the economy, the state of the working class, and the crimes of |
| 1:12.0 | big business. I'm your host, Brian Becker. Richard Wolfe is the co-founder of the organization |
| 1:17.5 | Democracy at Work. He's the author of many books. The latest being the sickness is the system |
| 1:23.0 | when capitalism fails to save us from pandemics or itself. There's also a new hard copy edition of |
| 1:29.9 | Professor Wolfe's book, Understanding Marxism, which includes a new, lengthy introduction. You can check |
| 1:36.3 | out all of his work at R-D-Wolf.com. That's R-D-W-O-L-F-F.com. Professor Wolf, welcome back. |
| 1:48.2 | Thank you, Brian. Glad to be here. Have you sold all your stocks this week or last week? Did you get rid of the huge portfolio so that you're shielded? |
| 1:54.6 | Yes, the miracle, though, is that even though my portfolio is, as you say, huge, seems to have had no effect at all. |
| 2:03.0 | Well, I wanted to say that unlike you, Richard, the 50 richest billionaires in the world |
| 2:09.5 | have had a tough time this year. I'm looking at the Wall Street Journal Business and Finance |
| 2:15.1 | section from earlier yesterday. The 50 richest people have lost a combined |
| 2:20.6 | $563 billion this year. That's right, everybody. 50 people have lost a combined $563 billion this year. |
| 2:31.3 | Just before we get into our main topic, Richard, it just struck me because |
| 2:35.0 | if these people had been comatose for, you know, let's say this year between January 1st and |
| 2:42.7 | today, it wouldn't have impacted whether they had lost or gained any money because it's nothing |
| 2:49.1 | that they do that accrues this kind of great fortune |
| 2:52.3 | or a great fortune that now has a little bit of a dent in it. Quite a headline. I mean, |
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