Why is the world, including the United States, swinging so far toward nationalism and antagonism toward those who are different? Why do countries elect leaders with abhorrent personal characteristics, anti-human views, and preferences toward corporate success at the expense of the planet, the worker, and the poor and middle classes? Why do the richest men in the United States kowtow to an insurrectionist and convicted felon?
Four reasons in my humble opinion: we are losing the new Cold War to the Russian guy; thoughtless voters; social media propaganda; and the failure of the real media to do its job.
In this writing, let’s discuss the first item.
I had an epiphany while reading the as-usual-excellent-writing of Daniel Silva in his 2024 novel, A Death in Cornwall. The plot includes a massive global scheme that allows the multi-billionaires of the world to shelter their billions in art-related, untraceable shell corporations.
Late in the book, one of the antagonists explains to Silva’s protagonist, Gabriel Allon, the changing world order:
The old order is crumbling, Allon. A new order is rising in its place. We…refer to it as
Kleptopia. There are no laws in Kleptopia, at least not for those with unlimited
resources, and no one cares about the needs of that great mass of humanity who are
less fortunate. Power and money are all that matters. Those without it want to acquire it.
And those who have it want to hang on to it at all costs.
In the novel, a hack by the good guys ripped the veil of the true owners off the shell corporations and revealed the incredible holdings of prime ministers, dictators, royalty, business barons, oligarchs, star athletes, etc.
It is not much of a stretch to apply fiction to reality. Vast, vast wealth is out there, concentrated in the hands of a relative few. One thing the very, very rich seem to have in common is an abhorrence of taxation. Witness the appeasement of/conspiracy with the rich implied in Number 47’s first-term tax cuts for the wealthy.
Do the filthy rich expose all of their wealth to the taxman? Surely, Silva did not spin his conspiracy out of thin air. Is there a proliferation of shell corporations in the world?
According to ChatGPT, “Determining the exact number of shell corporations globally is impossible due to the secretive nature of their creation, but estimates suggest millions exist, with a significant portion registered in jurisdictions like Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming in the US, known for their lax regulations on company formation, making it easy to establish shell companies with hidden ownership.”
Does one of the richest men in the world, as in the Kremlin, have the motivation to know where and how money is laundered and buried? And by whom?
Fiction imitates reality: “Those who have [money] want to hang on to it at all costs.”
Blackmail anyone?
No wonder the world is bending right.
The Q-View 