The Panama Shepherd 14 Apr 2016

When @Snowden dropped the #panamaPapers hash tag I was excited and turned to Spiegel Online to find out what it is about.

It was about Putin. My tinfoil hat began to vibrate and, of course, the story I was reading was desperately trying to blame Putin for shuffling money around with the help of some obscure friends. Putin is still evil. All was well.

Sure enough, the following days - after damage was done - people came forward explaining that Putin’s name hasn’t even been in the leaked documents.

By the end of the week the discussion had turned to where it is right now: tax evasion.

Hunting the Shepherd’s Dog

“All the poor middle class people are working their ass off while the rich are not paying taxes!” is the headline in newspapers, talk shows, and casual discussions.

Sums are thrown around. 50 billion € here, 1 trillion there. Look at all your money, people!

Everybody believes, wants to believe, or wants others to believe, that the missing tax money would actually benefit them. It is not being said out loud. It is being implicated by intelligent phrasing of the media pundits. We have to believe the delusion ourselves. It works better than being told directly. Like medicine.

All Eyes off the Shepherd

People who criticized the ESM for its anti-democratic statutes (ever read article 32, section 3?), people who went onto the streets to protest TTIP and possible corruption. People get enraged when the rich evade taxes which they themselves hate so much. People get furious when political projects like the BER misappropriate public funds.

Sheep see and feel their tax money (which is almost 50% of the income) being robbed every day and still they want there to be even more money to be embezzled by crooks that they elect.

There just isn’t any more brilliance in cognitive dissonance. You, the sheeple, want a better place but still you’re running in circles because somebody hides money.

What do you get for your taxes right now? You’ll get the exact same thing even if your rich neighbor paid the “missing” trillion in taxes.

There won’t be better infrastructure, free public transportation, more kindergarten capacities, better schools and teachers.

You’re living in fucking la-la land.