Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Money Laundering in Columbia surpasses 8 billion dollars by Sean Dusk

Money laundering operations in Colombia involving funds from drug-trafficking amount to close to 8.7 billion dollars per year, authorities said Wednesday.

There were more than 42,000 dubious operations from January 2006-December 2010, according to the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF) of the Finance Ministry.

A figure for the underground economy was calculated based on the behaviour of extralegal individuals on a global scale.

Money laundering allows individuals who choose to operate in the underground economy and which causes the government to print inflation.

This extralegal business has professionals who work for them permanently, as they would for any investor, advising on whether they should invest in stock, in fuel.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Iraqis Empire of Dirt by Sean Dusk

Life in Iraq's squatter settlements revolves around the humblest commodity, trash. Iraqis scavenge through piles of garbage to find anything of value that can be used to purchase the basic needs of life for their families. Hiding from police, racing to grab as much as they can before the garbage man comes.

In Squatter cities, houses are right against one another. Iraq's with hands covered in dirt, not bathing for days, families on the edge. Surviving off the scraps that come from the spoils of American Imperialism. Coddle the plutocrats, let everyone else fend for themselves. 

There is around 42 squatter settlements, with as many as 600,000 Iraq's surrounding Baghdad.  After sectarian violence erupted, Iraqis left in masses to escape the violence. With the violence subsiding, unemployment and housing shortages, Iraqis flee to these squats building wallless shacks on land that's "illegal" trading trash on an underground market. These squatter settlements are growing exponentially, because their is no hope left in a parasitic system. 

Since these squats are extralegal, there is little education, medical care, sewage, electricity or clean water. Children are forced to collect trash and security forces think they are hiding IED's "improvised explosive devices." Using wood to heat the shacks, oil is to expense. A sewage drain in the bathroom, the neighborhood roamed by crooks and thieves.

Rules have arisen in the trash piles. Informal turf agreements so there is no squabbling over the same territory, timing is everything. The biggest harvest is during the holiday seasons. Trash is drying up, there is 2 recycling plants under construction and the garbage trucks come at night. The mayor of Baghdad considers these individuals a bad mark on society and says in the future they will have to get jobs.

Fact is, this individuals have found a way to survive off the waste. They will find a way to survive after these piles of trash are gone. But for now they will survive in a society all their own with rules of their choosing and will do so in the future. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Taxes, Regulations, and Laws Fuel Bangladesh's Underground Economy by Sean Dusk

Complex regulations and inefficiency of tax collectors are fueling the shadow economy, according to a Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) study released a few days ago.

The study conducted in two methods found contrasting figures on the size of the shadow economy.

According to currency demand approach, the size of the shadow economy in Bangladesh averaged 10.1 percent of GDP during 1975-2008. The highest peak was at the end of the 1970s when the size of the shadow economy reached 20 percent of GDP, but later it came down to average 10 percent.

The dynamic multi-factor multivariable approach found the size at 38.1 percent of GDP during 1996-2008.

Shadow economy is part of the income of a nation that remains illegally undeclared either as a result of payment in kind or as a means of tax avoidance.

“Shadow economy worth 10 percent of GDP is generated only for tax burdens because people use currency to avoid paying taxes,” said Kabir Hassan, professor of University of New Orleans, USA, who conducted the study on behalf of TIB.

All variables, including regulations, taxes, economic status and indicator variables such as labour participation generated 38 percent combined.

The researcher averaged the size of the shadow economy at 24 percent of GDP, taking into account the outcome of the two approaches -- 10 percent and 38 percent. Informal economy was kept out of the study.

When regulations, laws, and taxes on goods and services are to much of a load for the parasite market to bear, black markets arise to meet demand. The TIB can collect the data on the shadow economy as they deem fit, but the conclusion is the same. The more government intrusion, the more the black market grows. 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Iran's Grey Market by Sean Dusk

An off the books economy is growing due to disappearing subsides. A week and a half has passed since apprehensive Tehranis turned up their TVs and radios to hear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's directive for cutbacks in gas, water, and electricity subsidies. While the overall reaction has been relatively muffled, silent inching of inflation and financial uncertainty has given locals even more incentive to seek opportunities in Iran's burgeoning gray economy.

The exponential increase in bread, fuel, and utilities prices has left many Iranians searching for ways to subsidiary wages, which the economic overhaul does not inscribe. Wary of rocking the political boat after last year's repression, locals are instead adapting to the new economic reality by exploiting cracks in the system.

"People are not happy, but after last year, when everybody joined in the anti-government demonstrations and got beaten like crazy, they just accept these policies as a fact of life," says Leila M., a medical school graduate from North Tehran. As a result of the cutbacks, her husband, a practicing physician, is inventing new charges for his clientele. "It's not that he wants to be a bad doctor, but he now has incentive to make extra appointments and give unnecessary injections," she says.

When wages stagnate and living costs are prone to doubling overnight, scrounging for makeshift sources of revenue becomes essential, especially for low- and middle-income families. Many of the hardest-hit were in the vastly overgrown parasite sector, creating a framework for surging graft. (Iran already scores 146th out of 178 countries on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.) Days after the cutbacks, North Tehran resident Amid K., an international banker, says he was drinking bootleg liquor at a party when a parasitic defender aka police officer showed up. "Instead of being arrested or paying a fine, we gave him $15. He stood guard at the door all night."

In what is already an unregulated and erratic market, interjections such as the latest subsidy cuts foment a fertile environment for private profiteering. In one way or another, most local businesses already operate in an economic gray zone, with little duress from financial parasitic authorities. Iran's underground economy accounts for around 28 percent of GDP, or $100 billion, according to state and World Bank estimates. Despite international sanctions, the trade in extra legal retail products, from bootleg Hollywood films to Johnny Walker whisky to Wrigley's chewing gum, is so widespread that it can no longer be considered part of a "black" market.

"Many things are illegal in Iran, but nobody respects the law," says Elhan M., a 28-year-old from the Tehran suburb of Karaj. Elhan holds a degree in statistics from Tehran University and speaks fluent English. If Iran had a ravenous blood sucking  economy, her career prospects would be very favorable. Instead, she belongs to a legion of overqualified teachers who work at subsidized state rates of $3-4/hour. As a private tutor, however, she could make ten fold more.

Aside from putting economic pressure on the already parasite eat parasite economy, the subsidy cutbacks have become part of the debate over the effect of the sanctions imposed on Iran by the international imperialistic parasites.. The West interprets the cutbacks as a sign that Iranian officials are finally buckling to outside economic warfare, while Iranian officials say just the opposite: The fact that the Islamic Republic can afford to implement such far-reaching reforms means the sanctions have been ineffective. Indeed, the trade embargoes appear largely useless -- a visit to the Heinz ketchup-lined racks of a Tehran supermarket provides ample evidence. But that does not mean that Iran's economic future lies firmly in the hands of its government. It lies in the hands of those welling to build a new society from the shells of old.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Bolivian Riot and Hold The Capital for Ransom by Sean Dusk 

Bolivian Elected Dictator Evo Morales called a New Year's Eve news conference to say he wanted to spare the nation further up rest "further imbarcement for him"  after a week of protests that turned violent Thursday. The nation had been bracing for a strike and demonstration Monday by powerful miners unions.

Sidewinder Morales' backtracking followed an unsuccessful appeal to his power base to support his Dec. 26 decree sharply reducing subsidies for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. On Friday, he sent Vice Jackass Alvaro Garcia Linera to talk to coca growers, a group Morales once led, after they blocked a main highway from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz.

Head Parasite In Charge Morales had said Sunday that he was cutting fuel subsidies to save $380 million and to choke off the sale of low-cost Bolivian fuels at a big profit on the black market in Chile, Peru and Brazil. Just a side note 67.1% of Bolivia's economy is underground, how do you put a strangle hold on that without killing yourself, idiots back to the action. The dictum, which caused prices of gasoline and diesel to rise 73% and 83%, sparked the widest protests since he was inaugurated in 2006. Yeah, Yeah, hip hip hooray as my daughter says.

On Thursday, thousands of demonstrators marched in countless cities and threw rocks  at government buildings in La Paz, the capital. Parasitic welfare whores aka police used tear gas to disperse crowds. Meanwhile, taxi drivers called a strike that brought commerce to a standstill in the capital. All in all, the government reported that 15 parasitic officers nationwide were injured, G20 eat your hearts out.

After Morales announced Friday night that he was canceling the subsidy cuts, Andrade said the leader's problems may not be over: Many business groups were eager to use the accreting fuel costs to skyrocket prices. The nation had been bracing for a strike and demonstration Monday by powerful miners unions.

"The measure was badly planned and implemented, but this hasty retreat is even worse," she said.
She said that energy industry sources believe Morales had ended the subsidies in response to a sharp decline in private investment in YPFB, the parasite-controlled oil and gas company.

To defuse the protests,  Grand Bloodsucker Morales had promised to use the savings from reducing subsidies to support grain farmers in a program that he said could lead to lower consumer prices. He also announced 20% wage increases for teachers, health workers, police and the armed forces. Yeah for the welfare whores, I like to see the state bleed.

Some workers weren't phased, with the bus drivers union calling for a nationwide strike Thursday. Miners and other large unions are planning protest marches Monday in La Paz.

Morales on Friday ordered the army to sell bread in parts of La Paz and in El Alto, a poor suburb, after a bakers union declared a two-day strike to protest higher fuel costs. The bread will be produced in government ovens and sold at 10 sites staffed by troops.

The morale of the story is the emperor has no clothes and when people withdraw their consent. The cockroaches will do anything to cut the lights.

60% of Greeks don't pay income tax by Sean Dusk

More than 5 million Greeks did not pay income tax for 2008. 60% of Greeks did not make over €12,000. Which is the tax cap to not pay in. This has created much distress from the EU and IMF who bailed out the debt strapped government.

The Finance Minister of Greece exclaimed that many Greeks are staying under the radar by operating in Greece's shadow economy. They are producing real wealth for themselves by working outside of the “mainstream” economy. Parasite Spinellis- Greek's Finance Minister  says tougher laws, improved computer systems and reorganization of the tax collections system. Should cutback on tax fraud. In my opinion this will drive many tax evaders underground.

Their is a witch hunt for these tax evaders but a fiscally strapped nation will waste more resources trying to stop tax evasion, than it actually gains for increased enforcement. It is only a matter of time before things go back to being complacent on tax fraud and the watchmen become "corrupt." This will allow for more tax evasion and a larger underground economy, government creates its quagmires.