Once considered the domain of the ATO and wealthy individuals, money laundering is now revealing itself as a stock in trade standard practice at all levels of government.
Sadly, this is not a recent development. The laundering of taxpayer money to business buddies of elected representatives has a long and reasonable well disguised history (pls note: I use the word ‘representatives’ loosely – the majority of our ‘representatives’ represent only their own interests, plus the interests of their sponsors / corporate masters).
Of the dozens of methods employed by governments to launder taxpayer money to their sponsors, the number one mechanism of laundering taxpayer funds away from the people is war. Any war – on anything – will do.
War is the best money laundering tool for a number of reasons.
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War is high tech.
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Many items used in war have a high item cost.
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War avoids scrutiny and transparency.
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War is a high turnover business.
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It’s easy to recruit the public to the cause (through bias and false reportage in the mainstream media).
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It is easy to denounce and dissuade objective observers as un-Patriotic, un-Australian, and a threat to national security (thus silencing dissension) thanks to the flaccid penis that is the mainstream media.
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Hardware is often destroyed and (we are led to believe) requires constant replacement and upgrading.
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War generates fear and uncertainty in the general public.
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War is used to justify secrecy and lack of transparency.
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Arms contracts.
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Supply contracts.
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Reconstruction contracts.
The War on Terror … The War on Drugs … and ironically, The War on Money Laundering litter the by-lines in the mainstream media … ironically, there is no mention of The War on Taxpayers.
In Australia, Billions of dollars of taxpayer funds are laundered to the Industrial Military Complex every year. Globally, it’s Trillions of dollars. From the tax payers of the world, straight into the pockets of Big Business … without much more than a muffled yelp.
If it didn’t sound so much like a conspiracy theory, I would say that I’m starting to suspect that the USA is little more than a conduit through which much of the wealth of the world is laundered … but what would be the point of that? Those of you who already believe in such possibilities have probably already come to the same conclusion independently of my suggesting it … and those who like to discredit such notions by simply applying the ‘conspiracy theory’ label, will do so – and therefore, I miss the chance to convey my argument to that section of the audience (both of you – by the way, hi mum and dad!).
Citing examples of trillions of dollars laundered to global arms manufacturers (and the associated industries) is like describing the distance to the sun … sure it’s 149,600,000 km … however in real terms that is unimaginable to most of us. Reading and saying the number does not make it a digestible, comprehensible distance. About 150 million km … hmmmm, not really any different to me than if it had been half that (75 million km) or double (300 million km). It all means pretty much the same to most of us … for me, it’s just a really long way.
A smaller, home grown example of how money is laundered from the taxpayer into private enterprise (with little to no net benefit to the taxpayer) will better illustrate my point. Then those of you thus inclined, can go and look at the astronomical figures laundered into the arms and war industries …. laundered from the taxpayer … into supporting industries whose stock in trade is human misery, fear, destruction, death, xenophobia, nationalism, patriotism and the rewriting of history (read more on this subject at http://rarara.com.au/on-our-national-identity/
Listen.
Recently, the ABC’s “science program” Catalyst aired what I would call more a piece of investigative journalism than a science story (and not being a fan of the usual crap that passes as content on Catalyst I was a little apprehensive at how they would tackle the subject – a subject that has brought about debate between my father and myself on several occasions … ). Anyway … kudos to Dr Maryanne Demasi who conducted a most thorough examination of statins and the cholesterol debate (whilst far exceeding my expectation of what Catalyst would ever be capable of producing).
How does this have anything to do with money laundering you ask?
Three ways to launder taxpayer money in one easy to swallow bitter pill
or
Statins – A Big Pharma, GP Supported, Taxpayer Funded, Ponzi Scheme.
- Bulk bill (and gap payments) for patients who need to have regular consultation with their GP for prescription and repeats for cholesterol lowering drugs (yes, the ones everybody was talking about post Dr. Damasi’s item).
– In Australia, 9.1 million prescriptions for statins were supplied between May and December 2002 … that equates to a huge number of consultations with GP’s … most of which are funded by taxpayers.
And that was in 2002.
- The patient goes next door to the Pharmacy … often owned – at least in part – my the prescribing Dr or the owner of the practice for which the prescribing Dr works to fill the prescription.
– The cost of statins to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) — $806 million from December 2002 to November 2003.
More money laundered from the taxpayer.
- Big Pharma is making Big Profits from the sale of statins.
Considering that the evidence supporting the use of statins is wafer thin (to say the least), GP’s prescribe them pretty much as a matter of course. Qualification criteria were altered to include an even greater proportion of the population despite their not being any evidence fpr their use in the first place … let alone an increase in coverage. Aided and abetted by the GP’s who are the bottom-feeders of this money laundering pyramid
Pfizer’s Lipitor was the world’s top-selling medicine last year, according to IMS, raking in sales of $13.3billion. AstraZeneca’s Crestor, which garnered $5.38billion in sales during 2009, is one of the company’s best selling medicines.
The only way to become a beneficiary of this particular scam is to buy shares in Pfizer or AstraZeneca, or become a GP with a dispensary next door… not that I am recommending these moves … they will only lead to additional power in the hands of those who have proved themselves unfit.
So scale up, and you will begin to comprehend the extent of the laundering going on globally … from the Industrial Military Complex, Big Pharma, The Fertilizer and Pesticide producers, Big Oil and Gas, the Motor Industry, Mining … they are all in on it.
Whilst the taxpayer works away at paying the mortgage and feeding the family, Banks return record profits year on year … and all the while, very few people seem to understand what’s going on. It’s corruption at the highest levels. Those we elect to represent us are in the service of the big industries … laundering our taxes directly into the profits of Multi National Big Business (read more on these subjects at http://rarara.com.au there are several covering the many facets of this subject – look in economics and politics in the menu).
If we spent our taxes with foresight, wisdom – without the majority share being syphoned off to the sponsors of our Political Parties (and their interests) – we would easily have enough money for great schools, hospitals, public services, public transport, research and development facilities, innovation inducement … and still have change. Instead, we treat tax dollars as though they are potable fresh water … and flush our precious, hard earned resources down the toilet.
Until as taxpayers we use our vote to make a statement – elect representatives to represent an electorate, rather than representatives that represent a Political Party and associated Big Business interests – we may as well go back to contemplating the distance to the sun … it’s about as understandable as our attitude to elections … and about as sensible as our acceptance of money laundering.