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Thursday, February 13, 2020

The casting couch and the Swiss bank account

Say the words "casting couch", and you know what that means. Hollywood's greatest trick was convincing people that this sort of thing only happened on the fringes of the industry, with seedy producers and questionable films. But Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, and others like that demonstrated that sexual abuse of the powerless by the powerful was a very real thing in Hollywood.

Say the words "Swiss bank account", and you know what that means. A place for the wealthy to hide money, most likely illegally attained. One of the stereotypical holders of a Swiss bank account is a third world kleptocrat, who siphons tax and foreign aid money and transfers it to an account that only benefits himself.

Now, most people are convinced this kind of thing only happens in the third world. But what if that is wrong, just like the impression of the casting couch was wrong? A recent focus has been on relatives of powerful politicians getting suspiciously well-compensated jobs within foreign nations. And we see, as a rule, that politicians who spend their whole lives as public servants seem to grow their net worth far faster than private citizens with a similar income, and this despite needing to maintain two residences as part of their job.

Just how certain are you that first world politicians aren't getting bribes and kickbacks?

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