Offshore Incorporated (2015) User Reviews

Not deep, but for those who do not know of City of London it's worth watching

[shide_85 · 7/10 · 21 January 2017]

In short: Nothing new, nothing to deep but some overlook for those who are not initiated in how City of London works (like the trading outposts of old to circumvent laws). You get to follow a minister who tries to make a difference by trying to partake in the broken shadow system. The change won't come until people rise up, the model for UK in the modern world is to be a tax haven for the rich which both centralises informal power, influence and crime.

The docu. downplays the state of affairs (with width of it all) and how some nations (two or more) have tremendous funds to destabilise nations who do not follow suit in corruption and crime.

In longer: The actual number mentioned (32 Trillion i think it was) of money in tax havens is a drop in the sea (the initial ICIJ report mentioned $62 trillion, which later got corrected to 30 something, which later got lowered once more - formally the error was counting the same money several times, this later got named the Panama leak - that is ONE regional instance of tax avoidance). The point in time when ICIJ got access to the information was right before the leaks of the totalitarian shadow gov. et al surveillance systems came out, it then took a year to be released to the public.

The debt throughout the world would probably be history if those who benefit most from society carried their part, or at least as much as the average company/worker. Constructed ("Natural") debt is used to suppress social mobility and keep a lot of people in line (not all).

Pro's • Basic run-over over City of London. • Message - You as an individual have to act (with today's surveillance the cost is higher than ever) • Realistic outlook - unless YOU act, things will not change, the people are many, many doing little will over time beat few doing much • Naive outlook, which is needed, doing good in a bad world is tough and requires it.

Con's • Shallow • Limited outlook on cause of events ("...bird of the nigh" shadow gov. and the creation of it) • Sound is used to manipulate the viewer (to effect; bad actions = bad music/sound...).

End Notes: 7 is still a strong grade, one star for the effort and 1 to encourage people looking into the subject. The information about City of London could easily have been made a lot deeper simply by looking around casually for it.

*This review has been edited since the last spellingcheck by me, can't recall properly what was written but half a sentence had been removed and several spelling errors inserted. The vast majority disregard text with spelling errors and its content - probable reason why it would be modified to contain errors (check my reviews that are still up and read them over now and then - every time checking them for errors - so i do know if those were previously correct or not.

Simplistic, British centric.

[sdetlef · 3/10 · 29 December 2021]

This documentary starts off very poorly (excuse the pun). At first it's just some SJW crusade that tries to pin poverty on offshore banking. It's "poverty porn" that often films interview in terrible video/sound (VHS esque) quality.

It discusses some historical information halfway through about the British Caribbean islands and their roles as branches for the City of London. It's heavily on the City of London as a corrupt banking center.

It's all very British centric, which is a shame since it's subject is international banking. How the British Caribbean islands became offshore banking centers a hundred years ago is never discussed.

The legitimate reasons (privacy, stability, portability) for offshore accounts were established and their legitimate uses are also never discussed. The fact that money that goes offshore is often taxed on the way out of the country, but at lower taxation rates is never brought up probably because that would entail a discussion of different countries' taxation systems and wouldn't fit the documentary's agenda.

Thus, this documentary is heavily biased and mostly about the City of London. Watch it if you want to hate the rich, but you will not learn how and why this system developed and what needs to be fixed to make offshore banking too much of a hassle and liability to use.

There is also an underlying narrative by a religious (Vicar?) City of London candidate that I find disturbing. I am an American and I believe in separation of church and state. This candidate is why it's immoral to mix them. He says "bless them" about the people who voted for him as if a vote for another candidate is evil and against God. I don't think the documentary gets the hypocrisy that their moral crusader against tax avoidance is also immoral. It's just different type of corruption. The Church of England has "special" tax exemptions/status. I do love tax avoidance hypocrisy.

Educational

[Valid_ID · 9/10 · 30 December 2021]

This documentary is well worth watching because the issue at hand affects a lot of ordinary people. The documentary reveals the evil scheme of insatiable greed, and offers some names, but doesn't go into too much detail, probably because the average Joe has the attention span of a hummingbird. Those interested in finding out more should do their own research. Sadly, the election result shown in the documentary is symbolic of the laziness of the masses, who prefer the status quo to taking action.

Simplistic Poverty Porn

[sdetlef · 3/10 · 28 December 2021]

I find offshore accounts and the use of tax havens a really interesting economic subject. But this documentary doesn't even go into depth about how the system works. It is purely about the supposed ramification of offshore accounts. It's poverty porn told purely from the British colonial viewpoint.

There's more to tax avoidance than all the social ills you can blame on it. Also, the production value is extremely low. Often the sound is cheap and VHS like during poverty interviews.