Jimmy Carr show (Photo credit: Stimpdawg)

Simples- they are today’s top stories and they’re all about personal greed.

This article condemns that greed and suggests that people can have fun without ripping off others.

Jimmy Carr has been caught using K2 – a Jersey loan back arrangement that left him on a minimum wage in the UK and with unlimited pocket money.

The Film Industry has been used to churn unwanted millions from the wealthy and the schemes set up to exploit its tax-priviledged status are to be investigated (as are those who recommended them).

The FTT (financial transaction tax) is being embraced in the USA to derail speculation by traders and fund managers. I quote Peter De Fazio…

So it (the FTT) would dampen some of the volatility of Wall Street, it would drive some of these hedge fund speculators out of the market, so therefore it would benefit all investors. It would give us a longer term financial term horizon in this country, and it would raise about $35 billion a year, which we could invest in putting people back to work, or we could use in the future to defray our deficit. In one way or another it would be beneficial.[…]

These people are getting filthy rich by driving up the price of commodities, creating volatility, and they don’t want to see that go away. They don’t care what happens to the rest of the economy. They don’t care how they affect the real economy. They don’t care if they drive up the price of oil. They’re just there to trade something 1,000 times a minute with super-computers. […]

Point-zero-three percent. We had a tax of 0.4 — that is more than 10 times larger — during the Great Depression to help rebuild the real economy. And for 50 years we had a tax that was about seven times larger than this when the country was seeing the greatest growth in its history, post-World War II. So we’ve proven this will not have a detrimental impact on growth. In fact, it perhaps is beneficial to growth. It’s not necessarily beneficial to salaries of hedge fund managers on Wall Street.

What we are seeing is a global belt tightening called “austerity”. We are also seeing the exposure of certain sharp practices which while not illegal, are clearly not in the public good,

This is entirely proper. I suspect that we are only touching the surface of the problem. Today is Ladies Day at Royal Ascot, the boxes and paddocks will be filled with those being wined and dined at corporate expense. We have Henley, Hurlingham, Cowes and Wimbledon to come. Those looking forward to attending these events should be mindful of the Bribery Act and have a thought for Jimmy Carr, Gary Barlow , Speculators and Arbitrageurs. Your actions are part of the problem.

The Pension Play Pen was set up two years ago for people who would like to enjoy good things but pay for them themselves. Those 2250 members who are in it should be proud of themselves. Let’s hope it is a foretaste of things to come.

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• Jimmy Carr ‘tax avoidance’: as usual HMRC chasing the wrong people #hypocrisy (simplesimon8.wordpress.com)
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• Jimmy Carr accused of ‘laughing all the way to the offshore bank’ (standard.co.uk)
• Comedian Jimmy Carr avoids paying full income tax (thesun.co.uk)
• Comedia Jimmy Carr Accused To Tax Avoidance Scheme (manolith.com)
• Tax avoiders like Jimmy Carr have nothing to fear from Osborne (newstatesman.com)
• Jimmy Carr ‘avoids tax by paying £3.3m a year into offshore shelter’ (digitalspy.co.uk)
• The Press, the Comedian and the Lynch Mob (taxcomment.co.uk)
• Comedian Jimmy Carr avoids paying full income tax (thesun.co.uk)
• The 1% tax haven: Comedian Jimmy Carr ‘has £3.3m in Jersey avoidance scheme’ (dailymail.co.uk)
• Heading for an own-goal (economist.com)
• Robin Hood Tax Campaign Comes to the US (news.firedoglake.com)