Sometimes I feel like a mug, because I am one of the chumps who is not stealing from the government. Pesky conscience and personal ethics
How much of that is your ethics vs you not having the opportunity to?
Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
111–120 of 158 posts
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I'm continually frustrated by the complexity and opaqueness of the US tax code, your analogy doesn't make any sense to me. If your personal finances "struggle with fraud", it means you committed fraud . So yeah, of course you should be held directly responsible. That's very different from a large organization doling out money for tons of various complex projects, and those 3rd parties (or 3rd parties down the c…
> you get to take a tax write-off for the stolen funds. At least for US federal taxes, that changed with a very partisan ~2017 law, where Republicans stripped it down to only cover federally declared unique disaster situations. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Cuts_and_Jobs_Act
Thanks, I was unaware of that change. Note that limit largely just applies to personal property: "For tax years 2018 through 2025, individual taxpayers with theft losses are allowed a deduction if the loss is due to theft related to a transaction entered into for profit.", https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc515#:~:text=For%20tax%20year....
E.g. for financial fraud crimes, you much more than likely would still be able to take the loss.
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#113> Activists are calling for the Global North to provide at least 5 trillion U.S. dollars annually in public finance to the Global South as a down payment on their climate debt to those least responsible for climate change but most affected by it. Huh? I'm pretty sure the Global South produces significantly more carbon emissions than the Global North. Like double. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong?) From a quick…
"Global South" doesn't mean literally countries in the Southern hemisphere.
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#114> Activists are calling for the Global North to provide at least 5 trillion U.S. dollars annually in public finance to the Global South as a down payment on their climate debt to those least responsible for climate change but most affected by it. Huh? I'm pretty sure the Global South produces significantly more carbon emissions than the Global North. Like double. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong?) From a quick…
We export our pollution to them...
I sense that no matter what the situation would be, people will always find a way to blame "the North" for everything and anything in the world, and absolve "the South" from everything and anything that they do. It's religion at this point.
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#115Sometimes I feel like a mug, because I am one of the chumps who is not stealing from the government. Pesky conscience and personal ethics
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Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#116I wish this was a link to the original Oxfam audit. It's strange to me that an audit would say that there's somewhere between $23 and $41 billion missing. If the audit really knew what it was doing, wouldn't it have a more precise number What is unaccounted for? That said, it's high-time for organizations like the World Bank to have fully transparent finances. Like, I should be able to go to a website and see where e…
>wouldn't it have a more precise number What is unaccounted for?
The audit likely uncovered conflicting information and records. The range represents the high and low bounds of possible interpretations of that conflicting information.
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#117> Activists are calling for the Global North to provide at least 5 trillion U.S. dollars annually in public finance to the Global South as a down payment on their climate debt to those least responsible for climate change but most affected by it. Huh? I'm pretty sure the Global South produces significantly more carbon emissions than the Global North. Like double. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong?) From a quick…
"Global South" doesn't mean literally countries in the Southern hemisphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_North_and_Global_South
I know? I am using that page as a reference.
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's strange to me that an audit would say that there's somewhere between $23 and $41 billion missing. Audits have degrees of certainty; an opinion may be unqualified, meaning the records are spotless, qualified, meaning there are issues but the records are trustworthy, and adversarial, meaning the records are inaccurate and do not represent the actual financial status. If the records are questionable, it will usua…
> Money comes and goes without accounting meeting financial standards. That does not strictly mean that the money has been embezzled, only that the DOD and World Bank are unable to demonstrate that it hasn't been. Can you think of a better place to embezzle? Its risk-free without any accounting standards. 100% that embezzling is taking place and at a large scale.
It's hard to identify. I audited a Sheriff's account once because there was constant chatter that the funds were being misused. Out of an entire year I could only find one line item that was questionable (it was still a police item, but it should have come from a different fund).
What isn't clear is this: if say the Sheriff buys 100 riot shields from Company X, does his cousin own Company X and there is a kickback or a favor? I couldn't answer those questions because they would require a whole new level of investigation.
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Money comes and goes without accounting meeting financial standards. That does not strictly mean that the money has been embezzled, only that the DOD and World Bank are unable to demonstrate that it hasn't been. Can you think of a better place to embezzle? Its risk-free without any accounting standards. 100% that embezzling is taking place and at a large scale.
It's hard to identify. I audited a Sheriff's account once because there was constant chatter that the funds were being misused. Out of an entire year I could only find one line item that was questionable (it was still a police item, but it should have come from a different fund). What isn't clear is this: if say the Sheriff buys 100 riot shields from Company X, does his cousin own Company X and there is a kickback or…
Pay the sheriff in crypto then ;)
If there's an outflow from Company X back to Brother back to Sheriff then there's some clear kickbacks!
Re: Up to $41B in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds
#120Sometimes I feel like a mug, because I am one of the chumps who is not stealing from the government. Pesky conscience and personal ethics
How much of that is your ethics vs you not having the opportunity to?
If you run a business or consult, there's a ton of opportunity.
The amount of grey area advice I received from my ex-CPA taught me that there is ample opportunity there. This is also why she's my ex-CPA.