Butler to the World
Named one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New Yorker and the Economist In his forceful follow-up to Moneyland, Oliver Bullough unravels the dark secret of how Britain placed itself at the center of the global offshore economy and at the service of the worst people in the world. The Suez Crisis of 1956 was the nadir of Britain's twentieth century, the moment when the once-superpower was bullied into retreat. "Great Britain has lost an empire and not yet found a role," said Dean Acherson, a former US secretary of state. Acheson's line has entered into the canon of great quotations: but it was wrong. Britain had already found a role. The leaders of the world just hadn't noticed it yet. Butler to the World reveals how Britain came to assume its role as the center of the offshore economy. Written polemically, but studded with witty references to the butlers of popular fiction, it demonstrates how so many elements of modern Britain have been put at the service of the world's oligarchs. The Biden administration is putting corruption at the heart of its foreign policy, and that means it needs to confront Britain's role as the foremost enabler of financial crime and ill behavior. This book lays bare how London has deliberately undercut U.S. regulations for decades, and calls into question the extent to which Britain can be considered a reliable ally.
Stats for nerds
6recommend
9mentions
6people
2022–2024years
78% recommend22% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- > the whole of UK economy is based on such scheming
Excellent book on this:
Butler to the World - How Britain Helps the World's Worst People Launder Money, Commit Crimes, and Get Away with Anything.
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250281937/butlertotheworl...
- I have multiple ACAMS certifications (the trade group that certifies all of us Anti-Money Laundering personnel who work at banks). And no, the public can't apply for membership. 1) Search WallStreetOnParade.com and read all of the articles about laundering. 2) Read the Mary Erdoes and Jamie Dimon depositions about Epstein involvement. JPM was putting Epstein's bribes through to the Governor of USVI. JPM was 'forgetting' to file the mandatory SAR notices on the $5MM in cash that Epstein was withdrawing each year for victim payments. 3) The Yakuza (as written in Tokyo Vice - the book) use privacy laws to prevent any of their businesses from being tied to them. 4) Read Butler to the World: How Britain Helps the world's worst people launder money.
- This will be a significant boost to London, already home to vast amounts of money laundering via real estate, all facilitated by well established networks involving thousands of middle class professionals and the UK's crown dependencies with convenient secrecy laws, nominee directors etc. to conceal beneficial ownership. 70% of the apartments in most premium developments are owned offshore, many with concealed ownership -- 11% of all of the properties in Westminster alone.
I recommend the following books by Oliver Bullough:
Moneyland https://www.amazon.co.uk/Moneyland-Thieves-Crooks-Rule-World...
Butler to the World https://www.amazon.co.uk/Butler-World-Britain-Empire-Found-e...
and, by Tom Burgis
Kleptopia https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kleptopia-Dirty-Money-Conquering-Wo...
and this YouTube video
- Moneyland, Butler to the World, Lucifer's Banker Uncensored, The Big Short, etc.
- Read Moneyland and Butler to the World. On the legal side of things, we need to close loopholes that allow shell companies to hide oligarch money, and prevent countries from selling diplomatic passports to investors that prevent their prosecution anywhere in the world.
- Just read Moneyland and Butler to the World by Oliver Bullough. Nothing to do with the Blair era -- watch the The Spider's Web on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYfnkLurLA8
