'Robbery of the Century' Greeted with Total Silence
This fascinating article from the Guardian shows the true nature of modern capitalism. The paper estimates the total losses of the robbery at €447 million. That would make the Great Train Robbers and other famous villains of the past look like pickpockets.
The Dutch media has called it “organised crime in pinstripe suits” but the story has been almost totally ignored in the British press. Perhaps it is regarded as crooked business as usual here.
In the dock is Martin Shields, hitherto regarded as a pillar of the business community. There is no doubt that Shields is a genius. He studied engineering at Oxford. As the story goes on to recount, only 5 of the 120 in his group there went on to become engineers. The others went on to financial engineering.
They engineered a scam called cum-ex deals. These were incredibly complex fiddles which stole tax which, as Shields admitted, “hoovered up money that could have otherwise been spent on building roads, hospitals or nurseries”.
Woody Guthrie sang, “Some will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen.” The modern equivalent of a fountain pen sounds much more lucrative.
What a waste! Our finest talent is not used to do anything useful. On the contrary engineering students are drawn into activities that make the rest of us poorer.
The story provides a complete picture of modern capitalism.
