Africa is loaded with natural resources and poor people. We hear about the corruption in Africa, the corrupt leaders. We don’t hear too much how those corrupt African leaders work with other corrupt people in The West. Western people are always only “helping out” in Africa, so it seems. It’s too bad nothing ever seems to help huh? What’s up with that? Must be those corrupt African leaders.
Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: Hidden Resource for Development
In December 2008 Global Financial Integrity released its groundbreaking analysis of Illicit Financial Flowsfrom Developing Countries: 2002 – 2006. We estimated such flows at $859 billion to $1.06 trillion a year.
…Much attention has been focused on corruption in recent years, that is, the proceeds of bribery and theft by government officials. In the cross-border flow of illicit money, we find that funds generated by this means are about 3 percent of the global total. Criminal proceeds generated through drug trafficking, racketeering, counterfeiting and more are about 30 to 35 percent of the total. The proceeds of commercial tax evasion, mainly through trade mispricing, are by far the largest component, at some 60 to 65 percent of the global total.
...This massive flow of illicit money out of Africa is facilitated by a global shadow financial system comprising tax havens, secrecy jurisdictions, disguised corporations, anonymous trust accounts, fake foundations, trade mispricing, and money laundering techniques. The impact of this structure and the funds it shifts out of Africa is staggering. It drains hard currency reserves, heightens inflation, reduces tax collection, cancels investment, and undermines free trade. It has its greatest impact on those at the bottom of income scales in their countries, removing resources that could otherwise be used for poverty alleviation and economic growth.
So in other words, Africa is being robbed blind, assets being massively funneled out of Africa and into — oh where to? Into the global shadow financial system. Who runs all that? Shhhhhhhh…….
Existing research shows that African countries have experienced massive outflows of illicit capital mainly to Western financial institutions. (top page 10)
How does one separate the global shadow financial system from Western financial institutions? Well, it seems one does not.
Mind you, this report comes out of a think tank. The paper describes common ways to cook books and transfer money out of Africa. It’s all very very bad. Here’s a current example. On page 8, they note that none of this begins to account for drug trafficking, human trafficking, the sex trade, etc. So actually the problem is much worse than stated. The report then goes on to talk about Meaningful Reform. We must have some Meaningful Reform.
The key issue discussed at the meeting, according to Estulin, was “the next step in globalization, which is the creation of the African Union.” This is part of an unfolding agenda of the ceding of national sovereignty to unnacountable regional governments which can more easily administer and implement the aims of the financial oligarchs. One of these aims is the elite’s exhaustively documented penchant for population reduction, including tying development aid to population control problems. “The creation of the borderless African continent will be spearheaded by the IMF.”
Bring on that Meaningful Reform.
Now, exactly as predicted, everyone from Kissinger to Soros is using the economic collapse to call for a new financial order of greater international (read: unelected, undemocratic and unaccountable) control over world financial markets.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after her talks with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London on Thursday (1 April) that the two leaders had agreed to push for the bank levies to be agreed by the G20 group of the world’s richest and fastest growing economies. Merkel said that the EU and the US should “go for a global approach at the G20 summit” to be held in Toronto in June….G20 finance ministers will meet in Washington on 22-23 April to discuss proposals from the International Monetary Fund on bank levies. US President Barack Obama has already called for a “financial crisis responsibility fee” to be levied on banks’ assets. The 0.15% levy is expected to raise US$90 billion (€62.94bn) over ten years.
Ahh, great idea. So perhaps they can arrange to pay a teeny tiny fee with a little chunk of all that stolen money and, and then they might carry on and on and on about how wonderful they are and selfless and ethical, and it’s such a burden you know but they’ll do it anyway. And then they’ll turn around and raise customer fees to cover their “financial crisis responsibility fee,” award themselves some bonuses and live happily ever after. Win win win!
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But you will notice that when it comes to Africa, no matter how much wealth has been sucked out of that continent into the coffers of international bankers and corrupt people of The West, absolutely mind staggering amounts of wealth, the problem with Africa, we are told, is always the same: the people there can’t get along.
Immediately a crisis breaks out in Africa, the Western media invokes the genie of ‘tribalism,’ or if they want to be politically ‘sensitive’ they use the term ‘ethnic.’
…Africa is at the mercy of Western propaganda and media conglomerates which relentlessly paint the Continent as one beset by poverty, crime, diseases and endless wars which has to be rescued by white aid workers and sanctimonious celebrities. …Bad advice, meddlesome aid agencies and ‘charities,’ resource speculators and competing geopolitics have all served to exacerbate the sociopolitical fault lines in Africa caused by the wholesale adoption of Western political ideologies and values. As a result, Kenya and most African countries have developed societies headed by Westernized elites, negligible middle classes and a vast poverty-stricken majority that reaps very little of the benefits of economic growth.…What is reprehensible is the cynical manner in which the people’s genuine anger has been orchestrated into ‘tribal conflict.’ That is the danger that Africa faces-unscrupulous leaders backed by foreign interests dividing their people in order to cling to power.
And the corruption is “unbelievable” you know. !!! The AFRICAN corruption, just to be clear. According to Hillary Clinton. It breeds extremism you know. Like Patsy Underpants.
God only knows how those African leaders managed to get so corrupt. It is an enduring mystery. But you should really send some money down there or something, because the poor children are starving to death.
