First Montana, Now Liechtenstein?

Awesome:

The government of Liechtenstein on Wednesday detailed plans to strengthen privacy guarantees for the investment vehicles at the center of a tax evasion scandal in Germany, a move that might prevent this tiny Alpine country from exiting a short black-list of international tax havens.

But wait, it gets awesomer:

Liechtenstein maintains that whether Germans or other foreigners with Liechtenstein-based bank accounts or foundations pay their taxes is none of its business. Klaus Tschütscher, the Liechtenstein justice minister, said foundations should not be tarred with a bad reputation just because some Germans might have set them up in order to avoid taxes, saying that was a separate matter.

"The Germans say, "Take this product off the market because some Germans may be using it wrongly," Tschütscher said at a news conference in Vaduz, the capital. "If someone puts their money in a mattress to avoid paying taxes, I can't say, 'You have to stop making mattresses.' "

It's the equivalent of the "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" argument. Good for them, at least some common sense is prevailing in Europe. Now if we can bring some of that back to this country we'll be all right. (Thanks to Montana for keeping hope alive here.)

Worst Financial Crisis Since 1931 part 2

William Grigg over at Pro Libertate provides a great perspective on who the real criminals are when it comes to the government versus the private sector:

Klaus Zumwinkel, former CEO of Deutsche Post -- the German postal service and parent of the DHL parcel delivery company -- lost his job last week. He may soon go to prison. His "crime" was to protect his legitimately earned wealth from the omnivorous socialist bureaucracy that afflicts Germany. He did so by opening a foundation in neighboring Lichtenstein, where his earnings were protected by the banking secrecy laws of that tiny (pop. circa 35,000) but heroic principality.

During his tenure as head of Deutsche Post, concedes the New York Times, Zumwinkel "helped transform [the postal service] ... from a stodgy state bureaucracy into a publicly listed logistics and freight-delivery powerhouse...."

Despite operating within a thoroughly socialized business environment, Zumwinkel -- through the tenacious application of his considerable gifts -- added a great deal more wealth to his society than what he earned. Yet he is now being traduced by the German State as an enemy of society for the supposed crime of tax evasion. Even if he avoids prison, he won't get his severance.

Stefan Ortseifen is another German executive who is stepping down from a lofty post in Germany's corporate world. As head of the IKB, a Dusseldorf-based German bank, Ortseifen has presided over a lengthy series of government-subsidized catastrophes. In contrast with the huge net contribution to German wealth made by Zumwinkel, Ortseifen's ineptitude and mismanagement have destroyed billions of dollars' worth of capital, and his failing bank has devoured billions more in direct government subsidies.

With the serene confidence conferred by the knowledge that the taxpayers would absorb any losses, IKB invested huge sums in the sub-prime mortgage market here in the United States. As he did so, Ortseifen consciously defrauded investors, depositors, and the German public by assuring them that "uncertainties in the American mortgage market" would have "practically no effect" on the health of IKB's investments.

And so it goes. The whole article is here

Worst Financial Crisis since 1931?

The people of Germany might be screwed (from Der Spiegel):

The German government has had to bail out state-owned banks with taxpayers' money after their managements recklessly gambled away billions on subprime investments. But if a state-owned bank were to go under, the consequences could be disastrous for the whole economy.

But wait there's more further down:

...after investing billions in the high-risk US subprime mortgage sector, insisted that the "uncertainties in the American mortgage market" would have "practically no effect" on IKB's investments. A few days later, IKB was on the verge of bankruptcy, with its supposed wonderful US investments worth little more than the paper it was printed on.

Now keep in mind, this is a bank owned by the German government, so all of the taxpayers are on the hook for these losses. Isn't that grand? Read the whole article here.

When the banking crisis comes here who are we going to blame? That's right, the government. Kill the Fed.

Pilfered from Lew Rockwell