One can hardly blame governments around the world for going after tax evaders. Across Europe, finance ministers are battling to reduce budget deficits while at the same time trying to find resources for stimulus measures, and anti-capitalist upstarts are snapping at the electoral heels of the established parties. Sometimes the word ‘fairness’ slips into the discussion, but political leaders can hardly pretend that morality is the motivation for the siege on tax-havens. If that was the case, they would have acted long ago.
Tag Archiv: morality
Moral Terrorism
15. April 2013
Some see it as an act of desperation. Following the tax evasion scandal involving his former Budget Minister, Jerome Cahuzac, French President Francois Hollande had to do something. Demanding that all ministers make public details of their financial assets is, if nothing else, something.
Jesus in the Eurozone
18. March 2013
When the financial website “Business Insider” proposed a solution to the euro crisis I was all ears. But when the saviour turned out to be none other than the Saviour, one could forgive me for being a sceptical. Although I agree the euro mess could do with a little divine intervention, a transcript of a speech by Deutsche Bank’s head of FX strategy, Bilal Hafeez, was the last place I expected an appeal for it. The euro area, like any teenager needs a father figure to accompany it through its present pubescent throes and to guide it to adulthood. Its birth parents, Germany and France, are not up to the job, so a respected, sinless, external figure is necessary – Jesus.
Old Heads on New Shoulders
17. December 2012
Hardly a week goes by it seems without some new banking scandal in the headlines: tax evasion; LIBOR manipulation; mis-selling of derivative products and insurance; embargo dodging; money laundering, etc. Some of the obvious victims have included private investors and municipalities, but there are also innumerable faceless individuals and firms, taxpayers and savers who have suffered indirectly as a result of the apparent lack of integrity.
A Crash Course on Ethics
12. December 2012
Although High-Street bank Santander has taken the unprecedented step of suspending 800 of its UK retail investment advisors and sending them off to intensive re-training, angry bank customers are not appeased. Online comments continue to slate the bank’s management for pressuring these ‘advisors’ into heavy-handedly selling products that suit the seller more than the buyer. However, if Santander is ever to achieve anything positive on this front, this is certainly the way to do it.
Big Ambitions, Tiny Effort
28. November 2012
It is almost as is war had finally declared against unfair and anti-social tax avoidance in Europe. Germany policymakers, for example, have recently refused to sign a bi-lateral tax agreement with Switzerland because the new rules are not aggressive enough to curtail private tax dodging. In the UK, the heat has been turned up on multi-national firms like Google and Starbucks, who reduce their tax liability by cleverly shifting profits in low-tax jurisdictions. France’s taxmen have already demanded a €252 million back payment from Amazon related to this kind of ‘profit shifting’.
Borrowing and Blame
26. November 2012
The clash of money and morality holds a particular fascination for me. Although it is seemingly everywhere, and we read daily tales of fraud, insider-dealing, income inequality, conflicts of interest, payday lending, etc., it almost never fails to surprise us. When embarking on a simple and purely economic activity, we rarely think that it might one day collide with our own or others’ sense of morality.
The Redemption of a Scoundrel
12. November 2012
It is obvious why people seem to enjoy seeing a hero fall: it is all about changing the reference point. For example, when a beacon of morality – a sporting hero, an outspoken priest, a clean-cut politician, a decorated general – is dragged into the mire of sleaze and shame, it lowers the bar for our own patchy integrity. Without having to do anything, we are instantly able to see ourselves as more honest. Quite why anyone would like to see someone’s tainted image redeemed is perhaps counter-intuitive, but we like that too.
Morality and Markets
5. November 2012
I was so impressed by a lecture on the fascinating subject of ‘Economics and Ethics’ by Julian Nida-Rümelin, a former German culture minister and currently professor of philosophy and political theory at the Ludwig-Maximillian University in Munich, I literally ran out and bought the book. Nida-Rümelin’s newest publication, entitled The Optimisation Trap[1], deals with the philosophy of a human economy.
Deterring Insider Traders
29. June 2012
The conviction of Rajat Gupta, (the former head of McKinsey and ex-board member of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble) is being seen as a milestone in the long crackdown on insider trading by US prosecutors. Gupta was found guilty even though he did not personally benefit from the crime and the conviction was secured largely on the basis of circumstantial evidence. By setting the bar lower than the usual standard for conviction, the prosecutors hope to establish an effective deterrent for would-be insider traders. It could be working: the UK’s financial market regulator, the FSA, has revealed that there has been a dramatic decrease in unusual trading ahead of the London-listed M&As. Among other things, it attributes the decline to the much-debated Rajat Gupta trial.
The Unforgiven
20. February 2012
“There was a period of remorse and apology for banks; that period needs to be over,” implored Barclay’s boss Bob Diamond before a parliamentary committee in January 2011. Well nobody seems to have been listening because, a year later, banker-bashing persists. Mr Diamond seems determined to remain the lightning rod for public fury but he is far from alone. In the last few weeks Stephen Hester, the head of the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland has been publicly badgered into giving up a one-million-pound bonus. The figure seems large, but it is modest by bankers’ standards. Also RBS’s former CEO, Fred Goodwin, the man who presided over the bank’s collapse, was stripped of his knighthood. To put that into context, the last person to be so unceremoniously defrocked was the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.
Our Inner Pinocchio
8. February 2012
Have you lied yet today? According to some studies we lie about three times in every ten minutes of conversation[i], which means that unless you just woke up you have already let a few lies slip. Perhaps you told your neighbour how good she looks this morning, even if that wasn’t strictly the case.
Heavenly Values
31. January 2012
At a church in Frankfurt I recently had the opportunity to listen to a debate between Professor Paul Kirchhof, a former Federal Constitutional Court judge, and the former chairman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Professor Wolfgang Huber. The topic was the gradual destruction of church and state and the eventual end of institutions. Almost inevitably, the conversation turned to the ‘crisis’ – nowadays, an empty catchphrase for all social problems.
Moral(ity) Dilemma
10. January 2012
The subject of yesterday’s blog post prompted more discussion and opinion in our office than actually made it into words. Debates about morality have a tendency to do that. If anything, the news that the Swiss central bank president, Philipp Hildebrand, had stepped down as a result of a currency trading scandal, further polarised opinions. As the post concluded, each person has their own personal moral benchmark – an idiosyncratic reference point – so the perception of any moral deviation will therefore be different depending on who observes it.
A Tale of Two Moralities
9. January 2012
Should the President of Germany borrow money from millionaire friends and holiday at their expense? Should the wife of the Swiss central bank president make speculative investments in the currency under her husband’s responsibility?
Oh dear. Once again the morality of our elected officials is provoking public ire.
Lead Me Not into Chocolate Temptation
20. December 2011
I know exactly what lies in that elegantly embossed box on the middle shelf of the fridge in the office kitchen: the luxury chocolates belonging to my esteemed boss. If I lifted one of those tiny hand-made delights from the tray and popped it into my mouth, he might not even miss it. I could almost taste it. But then I remembered a study by an economist who was constantly annoyed because his drinks kept disappearing from the common refrigerator at his faculty.
Questionable Pride
26. October 2011
I caught the highlights of the WBO Cruiserweight title bout between Marco Huck and Rogelio Rossi on TV last Sunday. I’m not really a boxing fan, but I was transfixed by this particular combat. Rossi, the Argentinian challenger, took a real pounding and was eventually stopped in the sixth round by total knockout. He lay for a while unconscious on the canvas surrounded by his corner team and a doctor. Earlier he had ‘survived’ three standing counts by the referee – something that, on its own, is not particularly noteworthy. The first of these, however, followed a late, but serious punch delivered by Huck after the bell at the end of the fourth round.
A Cure for Unethical Behaviour
14. June 2011
Article first published as A Cure for Unethical Behaviour on Technorati.
It is hard to recall a time when the (alleged) unethical behaviour of leading individuals has made so many headlines as now: the IMF President Strauss-Kahn has been accused of rape; a bribery scandal has rocked the FIFA; ex-Governor Schwarzenegger is under criminal investigation, former presidential candidate, John Edwards, too; Congressman Weiner has literally been exposed on Twitter; UK soccer hero Ryan Giggs also had a run-in with the micro-blogging network;
Jim Cramer’s Good Advice?
17. May 2011
Even those who are not fans of CNBC’s Jim Cramer cannot argue with his latest tip. If given a choice between making money and avoiding jail-time, argued the ‘Mad Money’ host, it is best to try and stay out of jail. His reflection was in response to the conviction of insider trader Raj Rajaratnam on 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud. Ex-post, it looks like the former hedge fund manager, who is now staring at 19 years in federal prison, made the wrong choice. However, ex-ante, this is not the choice insider traders face.
Distasteful Business
18. March 2011
The Fukushima disaster was upgraded to Level 5 today, in other words, a ‘nuclear accident with wider consequences’. The news sent me scurrying to dig up an e-mail I received on Monday morning from InTrade, the spread-betting website. They had just opened a betting market on the Japanese accident, and were already quoting prices for the probability of further explosions as well as the probabilities of future upgrades to Levels 5, 6 and 7.
Gorch Fock… Get Me Out of Here!
27. January 2011
Germany’s Navy has been disparaged following the unfortunate death of a 25-year old female cadet early last November. The trainee died in a 100-foot fall from the rigging of a tall ship, the Gorch Fock, and a leaked report by the parliamentary liaison to the German military revealed a culture of revelry and hazing widely perceived as unbecoming of an officer.
Ethical Economists
5. January 2011
Bankers, mortgage brokers and rating agencies have borne the brunt of public wrath over the financial crisis. But a documentary released late last year entitled ‘Inside Job’ reserved much of its scorn for academic economists. The movie implies that huge consulting fees have hijacked the independence of some of America’s most-admired economists.
Foreclosures Beget More Foreclosures
26. October 2010
‘Do the right thing’ may become a quaint historical slogan as the US housing market edges toward a double-dip downturn. The Fed already reckons that 20 percent of borrowers owe more than their houses are worth.