Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

In 1997, Jacob Rees-Mogg's dad, William Rees-Mogg wrote the 'The Sovereign Individual: The Coming Economic Revolution & How to Survive & Prosper' in which he shared his prophetic views on capitalism & chaos, that have fascinating links to his son’s enthusiasm for Brexit.

The Sovereign Individual opens with a quote from Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia: “The future is disorder.”

He wasn't wrong.

The book predicted that digital technology would make the world hugely more competitive, unequal & unstable. Societies would splinter. Taxes would be evaded.

Govt would gradually wither away, & welfare states “will simply become unfinanceable”.

In such a harsh world, only the most talented, self-reliant, technologically adept person – “the sovereign individual” – would thrive.

Libertarians across the world embraced this worldview.

Alastair Campbell said “After reading it, it is easy to see” why Jacob “so loves Brexit, & the chaos & disorder, & opportunities for disaster capitalism & super-elitism, that it may provide.”

Today, super-elites fuel a culture war that results in discontent, division & disaster.

Rees-Mogg Snr emphasised the importance of “low taxation” & “personal independence” – the two sacred causes of the hard-right at the time & since.

With the decline of the welfare state & public services, 'personal independence' now translates to 'personal responsibility'.

In Rees-Mogg Snr's 1992 'The Great Reckoning: How the World Will Change Before the Year 2000', instead of warning against social & economic turmoil as a threat to conservatism & the well-off, he now saw it as an opportunity for them & many rich Libertarians agreed & followed him.

In 2012, Jacob Rees-Mogg wrote that he was for “the individual against the state”, & against a “society wrapped in cotton wool”.

“The choice” is between “the collective & constant mediocrity”, & “freedom & great peaks of human endeavour”: personal success above all else.

In 'The Sovereign Individual', Rees-Mogg Snr recommended Singapore to readers who were entrepreneurs, as one of several countries that “impose low costs” on business.

The book also advised readers to use tax havens.

Today, globally, *at least* $30 TRILLION is hoarded offshore.

In 2007, Jacob Rees-Mogg co-founded Somerset Capital Management, now a highly profitable London company, investing money for clients in “emerging markets”. The company also operates from Singapore, & has a subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. Both are tax havens. Of course.

The Sovereign Individual prophesied that in the 21st century, “many of the ablest people” would use “cost-benefit analysis” to assess what was in their best interests. They would “cease to think of themselves as party to a nation”: to the super-rich, nations are merely a vehicle.

This is why the populist nationalism trumpeted every day from the hard-right is so sinister, mendacious & toxic: they demand nationalism & submission to Queen & country for the masses, while Libertarian elites happily lie to the Queen, line their pockets, & royally fuck Britain.

Over the last 20 years, political leaders have vowed to “eradicate” tax havens. They’ve called shell companies & money laundering “threats to our security, our democracy & our way of life.” They’ve passed new laws & inked international agreements.

But nothing much changes.

The offshore system is adaptable, & cross-border financial crime & tax dodging continue to thrive.

When an offshore provider or jurisdiction is exposed or comes under pressure, others use its misfortune as a marketing opportunity, snapping up clients fleeing for safer havens.

An ICIJ analysis identified hundreds of offshore companies that ended relationships with the scandal-tarred law firm Mossack Fonseca after the release of the Panama Papers investigation. Other providers took over as the companies’ offshore agents.

#PandoraPapers #PanamaPapers

One of those companies was controlled by an offshore trust whose beneficiaries included the wife of Jacob Rees-Mogg.

#PandoraPapers indicate that a holding company & a trust benefiting his spouse, Helena de Chair, owned “pictures & paintings” worth $3.5 million.

Small world.

Libertarians should be honest for once, & say what they REALLY want, namely: no welfare; no public sector; no taxes; no consumer, worker or environmental protections; no food or other standards; no limits on Party funding; no lobbying restrictions; no unions; & no human rights.

If @Conservatives were at least honest with their cheap, misleading & manipulative populist nationalist slogans:

#CPC21 #COP26