Offshore : stealth wealth and the new colonialism

Offshore Stealth wealth and the new colonialism

Brooke Harrington, 1968-

Book - 2024

"How do the rich keep getting richer, while dodging the long arm of the law? From playboy billionaires avoiding taxes on private islands to Russian oligarchs sailing away from sanctions on their superyachts, the ultra-rich seem to live in a different world from the rest of us. That world is called offshore. Hidden from view, the world's ultra-rich can use offshore finance to escape tax obligations, labor and environmental safety regulations, campaign finance rules, and other laws that get in their way. In Offshore: Stealth Wealth and the New Colonialism, sociologist Brooke Harrington reveals how this system works, as well as how it degrades democracy, the economy, and the public goods on which we all depend. Harrington spent eight... years infiltrating this secretive world by training as a wealth manager, traveling from glossy European and North American capitals to developing countries in South America and Africa, to islands in the Indian Ocean, Caribbean, and South Pacific regions. Through interviews with dozens of wealth managers in nineteen countries, Harrington uncovered how this global network of offshore financial centers arose from the remnants of colonialism and has created a new, hidden imperial class This engrossing deep dive reveals what offshore finance costs all of us, and how it has colonized the world--not on behalf of any one country, but to benefit a largely invisible empire of a few thousand billionaires, who help themselves to the best society has to offer while sticking us with the bill. As politicians struggle to address the deepening economic and political inequality destabilizing the world, Harrington's expoš of the offshore system is a vital resource for understanding the most pressing crises of our time."--

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Subjects
Banks and banking, International.
Investments, Foreign.
Tax evasion.
Wealth > Moral and ethical aspects.
Published
New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company [2024]
Language
English
Main Author
Brooke Harrington, 1968- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
162 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781324064947
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1. The Unauthorized Biography of a Secretive System
  • Chapter 2. A Platform for Elite Insurgency
  • Chapter 3. Zombie Colonialism
  • Chapter 4. The Paradox of Plenty
  • Chapter 5. This Side of Fiscal Paradise
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Readings in Conversation
  • Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A Dartmouth sociology professor explores the complex, supersecret world of offshore finance. When Harrington, author ofCapital Without Borders, began studying offshore finance in 2007, she found that almost no data existed about those taking advantage of the system. Knowing she could not directly access wealthy individuals herself, she made a plan to earn wealth manager credentials so she could access them through their financial managers. Through classwork and interviews with her colleagues-in-training, the author learned that the system was less a scheme for tax avoidance and more a "platform for an elite insurgency opposed to…equality before the law, economic stability [and] free markets." Staying hidden is critical to the success of offshoring projects because "secrecy confers impunity." She argues that part of what makes this system so insidious is the way it has repurposed the legal and financial infrastructure of the old imperial era for the new transnational elite. These practices have in turn transformed former poor ex-colonies like the Bahamas into law-free zones where deals that support the illegal enrichment of the already wealthy can take place. At the same time, the lure of wealth and profit have brought even rich democratic countries like the U.S. (which boasts a few of the most popular offshore centers in the world) into the plutocratic wealth management game. Apart from publicly shaming the individuals who use the system, Harrington suggests that one effective way of curbing their activities is cutting the connection between the superrich and their managers. In a world where everything else can be bought, "trust is not a commodity and cannot be purchased easily from another provider." Intriguing and timely, this book will be of interest not only to academics, but to anyone seeking an understanding of the hidden forces behind global wealth inequality. Illuminating, accessible reading. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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