Bleeding Red, White...and Green?

Trey Smith

Never in the history of the United States have we witnessed crimes committed on the scale and scope of the present day by both private and state elites.

An economist of impeccable credentials, James Henry, former chief economist at the prestigious consulting firm McKinsey & Company, has researched and documented tax evasion. He found that the super-wealthy and their families have as much as $32 trillion (USD) of hidden assets in offshore tax havens, representing up to $280 billion in lost income tax revenue! This study excluded such non-financial assets as real estate, precious metals, jewels, yachts, race horses, luxury vehicles and so on. Of the $32 trillion in hidden assets, $23 trillion is held by the super-rich of North America and Europe .
~ from The Ascendancy of a Criminal Financial Elite by Prof. James Petras ~

During campaign season, one of the topics candidates play on is patriotism. Each candidate goes out of his or her way to try to show that they are far more patriotic than their opponent[s]. Since presidential and congressional candidates spend so much of their time and energy trying to impress other elites, it makes it more than obvious that this call of patriotism is nothing more than a rhetorical ploy!

It also should lead us to ask: How can anyone who hides their money offshore even pretend to be patriotic in the first place? Patriotism means to possess love of and devotion to one's country. If you are shielding millions or billions of dollars from being taxed BY YOUR COUNTRY, just how devoted are you?

I am not suggesting that the wealthy elite who place their money in tax shelters and tax havens don't possess love and devotion. I think they do. But it's not their country they love so much; it's themselves! That's who they really are devoted to.

Their country, not so much.