The American Dream: One of tax havens, terrorism and other double standards

A new era is approaching with the inauguration of a new President on Tuesday. Since watching Barack Obama speak in Boston five years ago, I have been excited by the possibilities of what lies ahead for this man and for our country. I was excited for the possibility of prosperity, a greater sense of equality and perhaps a realization that the American Dream was still possible in some form or another. Hope was a word I believed in, although admittedly with a healthy dose of reality. But sadly I have watched as Obama has become more or less just another patch in the convoluted quilt that is American politics. He is, in the same sentence, a refreshing reminder of what is possible and at the same time a reminder of what that proverbial quilt covers up: the indecency and lies of perverse and corrupted individuals existing for selfish reasons.

So, lets not get ahead of ourselves too much… things won’t be changing as much as we might like. Yes, we’re bound to be moving in the right direction on some issues from now on (our fragile climate, massive social injustice both home and abroad, and a few other areas yet to be determined by the windbags on network television), but overall you can expect the status quo; nothing more, nothing less. The same Congress is still in power, elected by the same populace and supported in their agenda by the same Media Slackers.

The Washington Post again did its part yesterday in its reporting of a new GAO report requested by Congress. Carol D. Leoonig wrote of the large number of “bailed out” companies with operations in foreign tax havens. Yet again, the Post failed to mention the double standard: As long as you don’t hold an American passport, the US is still the largest tax haven in the world.

How naive some people can be when it comes to the workings of the world. While the financial bailout has become the largest robbery in history, fully sanctioned by the media, the crew of thieves are now somehow covering it up with that dirty little term: tax haven. It is not as if there is anything new about “tax havens” mentioned in this article or the GAO report. It is not as if anyone writing or reading the article actually knows the true definition of a tax haven. If they did, there wouldn’t be such an outcry about its indecency (because then we would be criticizing our own actions). We, the general populace, continue to rail on small countries who’s only viable industry is to provide pina coladas to tourists and financial services to individuals and companies.

Just like the BVI, Caymans, Luxembourg or any other country involved in financial services, the US wants to attract foreign investment. Hell, we need it now more than ever. So we try and try to attract foreign investment by offering a very reasonable tax rate: zero percent, up to 100k the last I checked. Just one of many, many loopholes (often called tax breaks) used to encourage foreign investment in the US is somehow criticized as immoral or treasonous when other countries do the same thing. We love ‘em when they provide little umbrellas in our drinks, but God forbid they should compete for investment dollars. Ah yes, let the double standard live on…why is it that Americans who move our businesses abroad are still taxed wherever we are located? Yet the IRS doesn’t tax those who bring money into the US? The blindfold is being pulled over the eyes of so-called “innocent” taxpayers. (By the way, you can’t claim innocence if you don’t educate yourself on the system, and that includes all facets of our system.)

Speaking as a patriotic American (and yes, I feel the need to point this out because otherwise it might be pointed out that I’m not), this same double standard exists in US and our allies’ foreign policy. Why is it when a hotel in Mumbai is bombed it is called a “terrorist attack”, but when the Israeli military kills three of the daughters of a leading Palestinian doctor and peace activist in their home in Gaza, it is called “defending themselves”? Or when the US drops 30,000 ton bombs on a village in Somalia, it is part of the “war on terror”, but when a Sunni who has lost his entire family chooses to blow himself up, he is called a “terrorist” or worse, an “insurgent”?

Sheltering your money from increasing and perhaps unfair tax laws is as old as the cycle of violence in the name of freedom and neither one is acceptable behavior for any “civilized” society. But it is the most patriotic thing you can do to question both unfair taxation and violence in the name of anything justifiable. If we are unable to question these two pillars of our society, we will be worse for it no matter who our President is… But please don’t allow the mainstream media to take away your voice in this discussion and push the idea that tax havens are inherently evil, just as justifiable violence is at times acceptable. Continued discourse is necessary to determine the balance, not continued self-denial. Too bad some of our more courageous citizens have passed on: RIP George Carlin: