Name: Moneyland
ISBN: 9781781257937

Oliver Bullough

The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule the World

Moneyland

SUNDAY TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR an ECONOMIST Politics and Current Affairs book of the year and a DAILY MAIL and TIMES book of the year 'You cannot understand power, wealth and poverty without knowing about Moneyland.' Simon Kuper, New Statesman 2019: democracy is eating itself, inequality is skyrocketing, the system is breaking apart. Why? Because in 1962, some bankers in London had an idea that changed the world. That idea was called 'offshore'. It meant that, for the first time, thieves could dream big. They could take everything. Join investigative journalist Oliver Bullough on a journey into the hidden world of the new global kleptocrats. See the poor countries where public money is stolen and the rich ones where it is laundered and invested. Watch the crooks at work and at play, and meet their respectable, white-collar enablers. Learn how the new system works and begin to see how we can tackle it.

Why Thieves And Crooks Now Rule The World And How To Take It Back

Bouke van der Bijl

This book is rough, it's about how crooks and plutocrats—think oil princes, families of dictators, Russian oligarchs—are shaping the international legal system into one where they can safely steal trillions from their own countries, facilitated by bankers in the west. And how these people are using their influence to fund political campaigns in democracies like the successful Brexit campaign, and surely some other populist parties as well. Just completely awful, but the book is great.

I found the history lesson at the beginning also interesting, about how most countries had quite strong capital controls after WW2 that were gradually removed. This is also what irks me so much about Bitcoin people, that the complete lack of central control should be seen as something good. Being able to do whatever you want with your money is not a human right, and not desirable in any way. It only serves criminals and crooks.

Chris Raastad

Overall a book covering a fascinating topic that will interest every concerned citizen. Oliver deep dives into the extreme nature of how the super-rich accumulate and preserve their wealth in "Moneyland", a realm transcending borders and laws. This land is comprised of all wealth acquired from the good, bad, and ugly (read corruption), all mixed around together flung around the world in properties, assets, trust funds, and any other lucrative financial instrument. The book is a must-read for anyone working in government and financial services (especially in an Anti Money Laundering team, as I did in the past). I've had similar thoughts for years about the super-rich, but the book uncovers the gravity of the problem. 

Olvier starts with the history of the modern monetary system, how following post-WW2 the world "chose" a USD pegged to Gold as a world currency vs. a new global currency. Eventually "Euro-dollars" came into existence, giving London relevance again enabling wealth building interest to Swiss bank account fortunes. Since then, the rest is history. Like ants, where a lucrative cross border or legal loophole exists, the super rich flock there to dodge taxes and protect their assets. Examples include BS companies registered in London putting distance between a real owner and the levels of company structures owning a rich home, to Caribbean tax havens, and finally the infamous "Nevada" trust, bringing all the wealth back to America locked away in permanent legal safe-havens.

I listened to the entire audio book on an 11 hour car trip. Overall the topic is 5/5 in interesting. You will learn something and never think the same about money and borders again. Some parts of the book we're kinda a drag (hence 4/5), too many numbers, stats, or the same story over and over again how a corrupt politician walks away pilfering their country with no way to stop them. It's insane. Great read.

Moneyland The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule the World

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