The Wealth Hoarders

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Chuck Collins. The Wealth Hoarders

CONTENTS

Guide

Pages

The Wealth Hoarders. How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Prelude 1983 Discovering the Money River

Slurping Lessons

Notes

Prelude 2004 The Blue Hippo Swindle

Notes

Prelude 2020 The Theft of Angola

Notes

Introduction

How Much Wealth is Hidden?

Hidden Wealth Touches Us All

About the Book

Notes

1 The High Cost of Hidden Wealth

Wealth Extraction and Poverty

Sheltering Deadbeats and Kleptocrats

Tax Dodging and the Growing Concentration of Wealth

Oligarchy and Dynasties of Wealth

Spending Millions to Defend Billions

Notes

2 Who Are the Wealth Defenders?

The Wealth Defense Class

Cracks in the Facade

New York Lawyers on Candid Camera

Confessions of a Wealth Defender

Armor Up: Dynasty Building

Do “Only Morons Pay the Estate Tax?”

Notes

3 Tools in the Wealth-Hiding Toolbox

Anonymous Shell Companies

Trusts

Charitable Trusts and Foundations

Anonymously Owned Assets

Bank Accounts in Secrecy Jurisdictions

Loophole and Transaction Innovation

Wealth Hiding Increases as Inequality Grows

Delaware and Shell Companies

Bad Neighbors

Lots of Salaries Depend on Delaware’s System

The Skinny on Trusts

South Dakota: Global Mecca for Wealth-Hiding Dynasty Trusts

Bending the Intent of Trust Law

Notes

4 All in the Family Office

Origins of Modern Family Offices

Pools of Money You’ve Never Heard About

Financial Butlers

Good Jobs in Wealth Defense

Growing Inequality, Growing Wealth Defense

Family Offices Protecting their Special Status

Anonymous Pools of Unregulated Capital

Notes

5 The Wealth Hiding in Your Neighborhood

Tax Haven USA

Art as a Form of Wealth Storage

Luxury Real Estate as Wealth Storage

Money Laundering and Criminal Activity

The Disruptive Impact of Luxury Housing

Higher Land and Housing Costs

More Unequal Cities

Ghost-Town Neighborhoods

Neighborhood Apartheid

Disruptive Transformation of Neighborhoods

Wasted Land, Resources, and Energy

A More Vulnerable Future

Notes

6 Smokescreens The Justifications of the Wealth Defense Industry

We Are Just Obeying the Rules

The Wealth Defense Industry Writes the Rules

South Dakota Trust Makers

Local Wealth Defenders in Tax Havens

Campaign to Abolish the Estate Tax

The Wealth Defense Industry in New Hampshire Creates a New Ownership Device

Helping Some Families and Wealth Creators

Privacy vs. Secrecy

Professional Associations: Spreading the Smokescreen

Clients Demanding Less Aggressive Avoidance

Welcoming the Wealth Defenders to New Roles

Notes

7 Solutions to Wealth Hiding

Pressure Points to Change the System

Changing the Rules: Progress Toward Transparency

A Range of Policy Solutions

A. Transparency against money laundering

B. Corporate taxation and governance

C. Disclosure of beneficial ownership of real estate

D. Broader disclosure of beneficial ownership

E. Shutting down tax haven USA

F. Closing individual wealth-hiding practices: Trusts and loopholes

G. Enforcing global standards

Notes

Conclusion A Time for Bold Action

Epilogue Grads, Don’t Work for the Billionaire Wealth Defense Industry

Reading and Resources

Reading

Movies

Organizations

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Z

POLITY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

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“It is no great surprise anymore that we are facing the greatest crisis in income and wealth inequality that we have seen since the 1920s. What is shocking is the sprawling system of corruption that the ultra-rich have designed in order to hoard their unimaginable wealth at the expense of everyone else. Chuck’s book reveals not only the inner workings of this elaborate scheme to hide more than $20 trillion in wealth, it offers us a blueprint for reversing this obscene inequality so we can take back our democracy and ensure that our government works for everybody – not just the billionaire class and wealthy campaign contributors.”

Senator Bernie Sanders

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“No, I thought I was being a Christian. Dee, I don’t believe the state should own businesses. But I do think there is a class system, and I’ve seen how it squeezes some people …”

She interrupts me: “There are good rich people and evil rich people. There are good poor people and evil poor people. It’s not as simple as you think.”

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