Financial Transparency Coalition

Last week as the UBS settlement was announced and (metaphorically speaking) copious amounts of bourbon were drunk in panic at many of the 4,450 homes where U.S. account holders rest their heads (for now), a producer for a well known news program called to ask if I would appear to discuss the issue. After noting that I would, he wondered if I knew of anyone who might take a view opposite of mine. I gave the producer two leads but was told later that neither panned out and, since they could not provide a balanced view of...

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is a CNBC anchor and a tax haven apologist. During her program yesterday she claimed that the agreement between the Justice Department and Swiss bank UBS, in which the identities of 4,450 American scofflaws holding UBS accounts will be provided to the IRS, “is a terrible thing.” “Follow me here,” she pleads. Okay Michelle, convince me that pursuing cases in which Americans violated U.S. law is a bad thing.

When efforts are undertaken to change the state of play in a society, be it for voting rights, civil rights, banning landmines etc., at first blush the task looks daunting.  The powers-that-be look too strong, too wealthy, too well-organized.  Conventional “wisdom” can often be against the change makers.  The effort, to be sure, is an

Tuesday’s New York Times piece saying that the Justice Department would soon drop its case against UBS was later retracted after a department spokesperson said there “no basis for the report.”  How could this be?  Did reporter Lynnley Browning – a 15 year veteran of the ink trade – get it wrong?  Was her original