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zvaigzdelasas · 12 days

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[BBC is UK State Media]

Truong My Lan is charged with taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors say $27bn may never be recovered.[...]

The evidence is in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes [!!!]. Eighty-five defendants are on trial with Truong My Lan, who denies the charges. She and 13 others face a possible death sentence.

"There has never been a show trial [sic] like this, I think, in the communist era," says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. "There has certainly been nothing on this scale."

The trial is the most dramatic chapter so far in the "Blazing Furnaces" anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong.

A conservative [sic] ideologue [sic] steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party.

The campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country's richest women could join their ranks.[...]

Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property.

All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic.

By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank.

Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% [!!!] of Saigon Commercial.

They accuse her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.

The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% [!!!] of all the bank's lending.

According to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement.

That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam's largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes.[!!!!!][...]

David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.

"What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away.[...]

faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption [sic]. Fight corruption too much [sic], and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity.

10 Apr 24

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forexinworld · 2 years

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Top 5 Richest People In the World

Who do you suppose made the Prime 5 on Forbes journal’s annual billionaire’s file for 2018? Successfully, it is a contact: two are Harvard dropouts, Four are American, one is French, and one amongst them filed his first tax return at age 14. 1. JEFF BEZOS Business Value: $112 billion Founder: Amazon (AMZN) In 1994, Bezos based mostly Amazon.com in storage in Seattle, shortly after he…

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#in the world richest man #rich peoples #richest person in the world #top 5 persons #top 5 richest people #who is the richest man in the world

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yoihoshi-maki · 3 days

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Reyna no last name was found outside a top secret World government building when she was 1 year old, years later she has now became the richest and the most feared spy in the government even tho she is only 16, with the government injecting a chemical that can give her fast healing and reflex’s, she became the top spy with the help of her friends( 5 friends) she saved the world on multiple occasions. Now with a new threat not on the world but more on Max Verstappen and his small family, the government sent her to watch over them, what she didn’t know about this, was that she will find the love of family the warmth of it and the love of an actual lover.

Name: Reyna

Age: 16

Birthday: May 21 2007

Occasition: Spy

Nationality: Korean

Knowledge: She was trained in every field of science, mathematics, languages, English, combat, and weapon training

Title: mother of women, spy of century, the most savage woman, The North Star, the she-devil,

Lines

“i don’t make the same mistake twice…..I make it four or five more times just to be sure”

“when Life gives you lemons, squeeze them in people’s eyes”

“its called karma and it’s pronounced ‘‘haha fuck you!’l

“ you know……slapping is an option….…right?”

“ I am her favourite godmother go suck a dick if you think otherwise”

“remember when I said Oh I am so in love with you?……..No okay me either”

“ I don’t care I claim these People as my children”

“ Twinkle twinkle little Shit I hope you get hit by a truck “

“ I know how to swear in 21 different languages “

“ you would think people would invent fly cars but no we are stuck on the ground “

“ you want my honest opinion …..you look like a rat”

“ ……SHIT IS THAT A ROCH…Oh wait it’s just you”

“ So who’s dieing today”

“ someone better being dying because it better be worthy of me stopping my show”

“ Hold on guys I need to take a shit”

“ Well, you have two choices, either you tell me who is sending you or I could stick this thing, sooooooooooo far up your ass that your whole generation line will feel it every time they take a shit got it?”

“ your too kind to me…”

“ you love me?…..”

“ let my family go!”

“ P I am back with new stories!”

“ thanks…..dad”

“ mom what are you doing?”

“ max and Kelly adopted me so I will forever love them “

Aiden: I have an idea, how about we kill them

Reyna: Aiden no

Aiden:Aiden Yes!

Reyna: Did it hurt when you fell-

Lando : From heaven? Wow, I didn’t think you were such a flirt-

Reyna: No, I meant when you fell down the stairs.

Lando: ...

Reyna: You just laid there for 3 minutes .

Reyna : What’s the dumbest thing you believed as a child?

Lando: That naptime was a punishment.

Oliver: what’s on your mind love?

Reyna:………… arson

Oliver: okay that’s enough phone for today

Lando: I can't imagine what Reyna is planning. But I can tell you two things. We won't like it and it won't be legal.

*reyna in the back holding a pan over her head ready to smack an opponent*

Emma: drop it!

Reyna: b-but-

Emma *glares*

Reyna: your no fun* throws the pan away hitting the guy by mistake and walked away*

Reyna : When I get Doordash I order 20 Cheeseburgers at a time and heat them up throughout the week so that I don’t have to pay the delivery fee multiple times.

Oliver: I hope you understand how food poisoning works.

Reyna : I hope food poisoning understands how I work. I never met a burger i couldn’t eat.

*reyna walking around with Penelope*

Reyna: so you see P, that’s why you shouldn’t date yet

Penelope: I am only 6

Reyna: oh….well never too early!

Oliver: you need a kiss?

Reyna:*hugging him tightly* yes please

Reyna:*beating a enemy agent in the verstappen home*

Max:*walks in* what are you doing

Reyna: preparing for when P gets a boyfriend

Max: let me join

Max:*cuddling with Reyna* your so cute

Reyna: *half sleeping* I could break your spine in 51 different ways

Max: I know 🥰

Reyna: so you’re telling me that these girls find a rich person and fell in love for the first time?

Penelope and oille:*nods*

Reyna: sign me up

Oille sighing dreamily with a love sick smile: I think I am in love

Auther leclerc: call the doctor

Reyna: *watching Emma holding a brick over her head ready to hit the ex boyfriend of Kelly* “ drop it”

Emma:*pouts* but-

Reyna:*glares* if I couldn’t then you can’t

Emma: asshole

Reyna: * walking in the wrong apartment, stopped dead in her tracks seeing two people having their’fun’* I am so sorry!!! KEEP MAKING BABIES I SUPPOSE!!!* runs away*

Max: Reyna Verstappen! Come down here

Reyna: ………I swear I didn’t eat the last donuts

Oille: I love you

Reyna: thanks bro I love you too

Reyna: Can I have 2 straws with that milkshake?

Oille : Aww-

Reyna: With 2 straws, I can drink it double as fast!

Ollie: when I look in your eyes I see little stars

Reyna: ………..thanks?

Ollie: Are you ready to commit?

Reyna : Like, a crime or a relationship?

Ollie: So... what would you do if you were in bed with me?

Reyna : Depends. Is your bed comfortable?

Ollie: Yes.

Reyna : I'd sleep.

Ollie: Reyna and I are no longer friends.

Reyna : OLLIE THAT IS THE WORST WAY TO TELL PEOPLE THAT WE’RE DATING!

Ollie: I’m in love with you.

Reyna : We called off the prank war last night at midnight, dork.

Ollie: I know.

Reyna : Ah. Okay. Um. Cool. Neat. Very cool. Cool. Cool. Coolcoolcool-

Ollie: My hands are cold.

Reyna : Here, let me hold them.

Ollie: My lips are cold too.

Reyna : *covers Ollie's mouth with their hand*

Reyna : I am so cool. I am an absolute Chad. I am the epitome of coolness and awesomeness—

Ollie: Hi.

Reyna : *melts down in a flustered heap of softness*

Reyna : I truly go into housewife mode when I'm someone's soulmate- like, I'll make you pancakes and bacon every morning.

Ollie: This is a lie.

Ollie: I'm literally dating them. This is a lie.

Ollie: THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO COOK A PANCAKE, WHAT IS THIS.

Enemy agent: *tells his sad life story* I wish I was dead

Everyone:…………

Reyna: *crossed arms* I could throw you off a building if you wish?

Everyone: !?!! what no! Reyna! Reyna Verstappen! Baby no!

Ollie: baby you need therapy

Reyna: what! He wanted to die I am just giving him a push!

Max: well she is right-

Everyone: Max no!

Kelly: Max Verstappen!

Max: *hands Reyna a ring* I need you to promise this to me, that you will wait until your marriage to have………sex

Reyna: I am only 16!?

Max: promise me

Reyna: fine

Max: good I will be doing this for P too so-

Emma: we have something to tell you…

Reyna: who died?

Emma: what-

Reyna: you’re pregnant!?

Emma: how-

Reyna: is someone in the hospital?

Emma: you got it on the second try-

Reyna: I AM GOING TO BE A GOD MOTHER!?

Emma: how- yes

Reyna: I am a trained spy I know everything

#f1 x reader #carlos sainz x reader #ollie bearman #ollie bearman x reader #silly #formula 1 #f1family #charle leclerc x reader #max verstappen x reader #landonorrisxreader #stuff #max verstappen

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swabian-princess · 2 years

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The Cheatcode

Hello Ladies,

I’ve found the cheat code when it comes to hypergamy! You’ll only need a little start capital…not that much, only around 1-2k.

You need to rebuild your entire wardrobe. Yes. Throw out your crop tops and your leggings. No high value man wants a woman that is dressed like a yoga teacher all day. I don’t care if you’re only 21. Buy all those long skirts and button up tops and don’t even think about purchasing a bag cheaper than 500 dollars.

Think about what you can do in terms of your appearance. Maybe a nose job or a skinny BBL? If you’re lucky you can get away with only lip fillers.

Only speak about feminine stuff. Home decor. How you’re planning to homeschool your children. Let the man talk about masculine things like politics or finances.

Are you still reading? Well…I have a surprise for you…

…there is no such thing as a cheatcode.

Sorry, but I need to rant a little bit.

I’m so fucking annoyed at posts like this. There is currently and likely never will be a cheatcode for hypergamy.

Don’t believe those feminity influencers – most of them aren’t even married or have bagged a billionaire. Don’t buy books from these people and don’t give them money for strange online classes, that claim you’ll meet a billionaire within a five step program.

The truth is, wether you like it or not, that only very few woman will marry into high society and even fewer will stay in those circles.

I don’t know if you get it but those men are only human and want a honest connection with their partner. (Well, I’m sure there are men that really only care about looks but is this really a man you would like to marry? Even if he’s the richest man on the planet?)

Hypergamy is work. Hard fucking work.

Many of you seem to think that those men only fuck you and look at you. What do you do if you can’t fuck because you’re on a gala or his mothers birthday dinner? You’ll have to open your mouth and start talking.

I’m like 98% sure that you could be a grenade in bed and the most beautiful woman that ever walked on earth, if you can’t hold a conversation for longer than a minute, you won’t be succesful.

I am not that beautiful myself, I’m average with a few nice features but I can entertain my boyfriend for hours just talking about my day. I can discuss current politics with him and talk about his business without googling every second phrase.

He loves to spend time with me because he likes how I make him feel. I make him feel welcomed in his home, I make sure to listen to his problems and about what brings him joy. I am the first person he wants to call when he has a hard or a very succesful day because he know that my reactions are always honest and genuine. I won’t just tell him what he wants to hear – I tell him my opinion.

Another thing that bugs me, is that those feminity influencers make relationships seem like the only things to do are shopping, taking vacations and going out to eat.

Honestly it’s fucking hard to be with a high value man.

High value man = very full schedule.

My boyfriend works from 5:30am to 7pm and sometimes even longer. When he comes home he wants to shower, eat something and talk to me.

I prepare his meals and clean the house while he’s at work. I do grocerie shopping and laundry, I iron his clothes and order his skin and haircare products.

He doesn’t expect me in a full face of makeup and a bodycon dress with heels when he gets home but he wants me to be clean and freshly showered. He want’s no drama and he expects that I know my place – beside him.

A relationship is work, especially if you’re in one with a man that works 80+ hours a week. Don’t expect endless shopping trips with him or a nice dinner every day. There is a reason why he has money – he works for it and his working hours are usually very long.

Okay, thats all I have for now.

Bye Bye

Selene

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katyspersonal · 10 months

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Top 5 Elden Ring's demigods

Argh... Could you've given me any HARDER top to make? :') No matter who I put below 5th place, I will feel like a huge prick @_@ Because they all deserve some praise, and some love. It is just incredibly good writing. Well, fine then, let's try.

Five - Morgott!

I talked about him already. The absolute tear-jerker character, a member of oppressed minority, that is defending the very corrupt system that deems people like HIM worthless.... He made me cry (/srs ) more than once upon just this sentiment. He is very realistic, and very easy to sympathise with and feel bad for. He certainly radiates a giant soft spot, though (and not JUST because he has dad bod that is completely naked under his robes, hahaha). In a weird way, he reminds me of Asg0re, a character from my other fandom - a big "monster" King who did a lot of bad things on his way, and because of his mental wound, but in the end might melt upon a simple hug or be easily convinced. It is just not what a Soulsborne game would've let us experience, but... honestly, he has not only huge muscles, but also a huge HEART. I love this combination a LOT, it pulls the richest spectrum of emotions.

Four - Malenia!

She is such a beautiful and impressive boss.... ...that I never talk about her. x) I can't quite explain how my focus works, sorry </3 She scares me a little - and it is not even her fault, but the thing that casually claimed her body, because superior deities have nothing better to do I guess :/ She is holding up very well for someone who has to live in a constant struggle with the horror plaguing her very being. And for someone having to hold up as a warrior of her dear brother's interests despite her body rotting as she goes. And having to repeat 'I am Malenia, blade of Miquella' like a mantra, since Rot is infamous to destroy the memories, and she must not forget what and who she is fighting for.

"She deserved better" is an understatement, I'd say. Her personality shines through the 'influence' that has been ruining her quite well, I'd say. She is a strong warrior, very determined, but very full of honor and love at the same time. I say this in every other post about strong Soulsborne characters, yeah. True bravery is not lack of fear but going despite fear, true power is not being callous unbreakable wall but to still hold your weapon firm through struggle and pain, true personality is what you ARE and not what you are 'not', etc etc. It is always about the feelings.

Three - Godwyn!

I could not explain why he made it to this place very well, honestly. First, he stroke my weird spider-sense intuition. I was going into Elden Ring mostly in blind, and still keep whatever I can to be revealed as I go! Thus, I did not know anything about Godwyn besides the fact that he was the golden child (metaphorically and literally) that went down as sacrifice during Night of the Black Knives as one having his soul killed. And that he used to be a lovely person. But one day, as I was playing Elden Ring and progressing casually, from nowhere, for no reason, I started to think of this character. Again, for no reason, I was thinking of the 'Deep Sea' and imagining him becoming a mermaid (?), and healing/truly dying/letting new soul grow/whatever by returning to the sea. I even started crying, and I swear, those emotions felt like they were not even mine.

It felt very random, but you can't even imagine my surprise when that same day, I just coincidentally travelled to THAT location, and found him. And, coincidentally, he was posed like this with a mermaid tail. I take weird 'intuition moments' (dreams or waking) very personally as I have many of them (and funny enough, they always have to do with the 'sea' theme). No matter how I feel about this character in the future, but the weird "foretelling", "intuition" bond fixed my attention, so yeah.

He seems like a very loveable person, though... From narration standpoint, it does make the most sense that he of all people had to suffer this way. It just would not have had the same effect if someone less likeable/innocent had to go down. It is... sad, how much of this character is his tragedy alone. But, he befriended a dragon and bridged the gap between conflicting forces, and from what I gathered losing him specifically was what broke Marika, and Mohg named his new dynasty after himself AND Godwyn. Clearly, the guy was the best thing to ever have been associated with the Golden Order, and manifesting everything good about it within his personality alone. Whenever I bash the Golden Order as inherently corrupt thing, I just always think back on Godwyn as a confirmed exception from the judgement. And, of course, he would have enough "kindness" to spread death as new form of existence... despite the fact that his 'true' self would've probably dreaded to manifest living in death of all things.

Two - Rykard

I talked about this guy since the day ONE I've picked even remote interest in Elden Ring, isn't it so? @_@ Well, I still stand by what I was talking about. Tanith is absolutely justified for being obsessed with this guy. He is like uh... Aldr1ch but executed much better, or rather, in more sympathetic light? I for one honor the narrative of a character who has the GUTS, the S P I N E to sacrifice a lot, their morals included, to just get OUT of the corrupt (!) way their world works. And I have a feeling that so does Miyazaki. x) I think it is a twisted sort of bravery that we are lucky to never experience and only perceive through fiction. But, unlike Aldr1ch, who revels in his corruption and the horrible things he has to do, Rykard, 1) has a loving family and 2) hinted to have or have had sympathetic traits and simply lost his way from.... heheh.... biting more than he could chew... xd heheh... :drum emoji because I am a comedy genius:

But, in either case, ya'll are lucky that the guy is happily married. Ya'll would not survive the intensity of my thirst otherwise. It is just my rule to not touch married characters. I still admire the guy though. Not to mention the fucking UNREAL AWESOME FUCKING DESIGN, one of the best I've seen ANYWHERE, and him having my favorite theme in entire Elden Ring. Like, it was legitimately hard to live down the crisis of him being "taken", because this guy is really loveable, both as a man and as a monster.

One - Ranni!

Honestly, I always liked the mysterious aura, the clairvoyance and the uhhh... I guess, machiavellianism of this character? "Ends justify the means" character who does some unforgivable things but believes there is no other choice, and the grander purpose is more important. But, she has so many layers. She stepped away from her mother's teachings yet still created a badass illusions to protect her and clearly loves her forever, she has trust issues but in the end needs true friends and true kindness (something even an idiot like Seluvis can see!).

You could see it hurt her to do all that, but whatever freedom could be was worth it. She is just a very complicated character, that goes above and beyond. Letting her own body be killed is badass but understandable, since her body was inextricably tied to the Golden Order, as an Empyrean. Letting her somewhat-brother who was a genuinely good and radiant and loveable person be killed? That's a bit... more drastic... And so on. Indeed, she IS like Rykard in how far she had to go, and how much she had to sacrifice, but nonetheless I uh... would not say she lost clarity of her mind like him? It is interesting how by Dante's Divine Comedy though, Herecy is associated with fire but only on 6th level, yet it is treachery that is considered to be THE sin of sins, and it is the lowest level, and associated with ice, like her element. I am thinking about this very often @_@"

-------------------------------------------

Honorable mention - Radahn!

Sorry, but I love the guy, despite lack of deep discussion (and becoming a mascot of the most toxic fans). This is ADORABLE that he learned Gravity Magic just so he could still ride Leonard. He appears to be such a goofy dumbass, wholesome person in the "wrong" way, opposing a character that is actually likeable and loyal to the things and people that arguably never deserved it?

But you know I am a huge fan of Rom Bloodb0rne, right? He gives off the exact same 'person that seizes and conceals the horrors of the cosmos from humanity, although their personality and intellect are gone' vibe. It is just... that same vibe of a "silly" character, the comic relief, that turns out to either face a tragic fate or reveals a much deeper personality. He is simple and complicated at the same time! And, well, him having been such a legendary and impressive warrior that so many people gathered just to give him honorable death. This is somewhat impressive. He was actually a very close tie with Malenia.

#elden ring #ranni the witch #rykard lord of blasphemy #godwyn the prince of death #malenia blade of miquella #morgott the grace given #starscourge radahn #ask replies #ask meme #use later #no seriously ya'll would not survive the raw cataclysm had rykard not been taken #all two of you who heard me simp for Aldr1ch thought THAT was bad? you don't know what IS 'bad'#good family though him and tanith hella deserve each other /pos #but yeah this is the hardest 'top 5' i've done yet because i can say good things about everyone #even mohg lol #it is just the magic of fuckin awesome writing skills #thanks for the ask!#lol i have mixed feelings talking about 'telepathy trips' as i call them (like with godwyn)#because i swear i can foretell what i will learn/feel few hours before it happens for SOME reason #but it is so weird that i don't know what to make out of it besides 'time is a social construct anyway' sfdhfdhfhds #at least it was not as bizarre as my dream about golden tree before I even LEARNED of ER let alone played #*X-Files music bass-boosted and deep-fried*

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beardedmrbean · 12 days

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It was the most spectacular trial ever held in Vietnam, befitting one of the greatest bank frauds the world has ever seen.

Behind the stately yellow portico of the colonial-era courthouse in Ho Chi Minh City, a 67-year-old Vietnamese property developer was sentenced to death on Thursday for looting one of the country's largest banks over a period of 11 years.

It's a rare verdict - she is one of very few women in Vietnam to be sentenced to death for a white collar crime.

The decision is a reflection of the dizzying scale of the fraud. Truong My Lan was convicted of taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. The verdict requires her to return $27bn, a sum prosecutors said may never be recovered. Some believe the death penalty is the court's way of trying to encourage her to return some of the missing billions.

The habitually secretive communist authorities were uncharacteristically forthright about this case, going into minute detail for the media. They said 2,700 people were summoned to testify, while 10 state prosecutors and around 200 lawyers were involved.

The evidence was in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes. Eighty-five others were tried with Truong My Lan, who denied the charges and can appeal.

All of the defendants were found guilty. Four received life in jail. The rest were given prison terms ranging from 20 years to three years suspended. Truong My Lan's husband and niece received jail terms of nine and 17 years respectively.

"There has never been a show trial like this, I think, in the communist era," says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. "There has certainly been nothing on this scale."

The trial was the most dramatic chapter so far in the "Blazing Furnaces" anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong.

A conservative ideologue steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party.

The campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country's richest women has joined their ranks.

Truong My Lan comes from a Sino-Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. It has long been the commercial engine of the Vietnamese economy, dating well back to its days as the anti-communist capital of South Vietnam, with a large, ethnic Chinese community.

She started as a market stall vendor, selling cosmetics with her mother, but began buying land and property after the Communist Party ushered in a period of economic reform, known as Doi Moi, in 1986. By the 1990s, she owned a large portfolio of hotels and restaurants.

All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic.

They accused her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.

The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% of all the bank's lending.

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That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam's largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes.

She was also accused of bribing generously to ensure her loans were never scrutinised. A former chief inspector at the central bank was given a life sentence for accepting a $5m bribe.

The mass of officially sanctioned publicity about the case channelled public anger over corruption against Truong My Lan, whose fatigued, unmade-up appearance in court was in stark contrast to the glamorous publicity photos people had seen of her in the past.

But questions are also being asked about why she was able to keep on with the alleged fraud for so long.

"I am puzzled," says Le Hong Hiep who runs the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

"Because it wasn't a secret. It was well known in the market that Truong My Lan and her Van Thinh Phat group were using SCB as their own piggy bank to fund the mass acquisition of real estate in the most prime locations.

"It was obvious that she had to get the money from somewhere. But then it is such a common practice. SCB is not the only bank that is used like this. So perhaps the government lost sight because there are so many similar cases in the market."

"What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away.

"Up until 2016 the party in Hanoi pretty much let this Sino-Vietnamese mafia run the place. They would make all the right noises that local communist leaders are supposed to make, but at the same time they were milking the city for a substantial cut of the money that was being made down there."

At 79 years old, party chief Nguyen Phu Trong is in shaky health, and will almost certainly have to retire at the next Communist Party Congress in 2026, when new leaders will be chosen.

He has been one of the longest-serving and most consequential secretary-generals, restoring the authority of the party's conservative wing to a level not seen since the reforms of the 1980s. He clearly does not want to risk permitting enough openness to undermine the party's hold on political power.

But he is trapped in a contradiction. Under his leadership the party has set an ambitious goal of reaching rich country status by 2045, with a technology and knowledge-based economy. This is what is driving the ever-closer partnership with the United States.

Yet faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption. Fight corruption too much, and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity. Already there are complaints that bureaucracy has slowed down, as officials shy away from decisions which might implicate them in a corruption case.

"That's the paradox," says Le Hong Hiep. "Their growth model has been reliant on corrupt practices for so long. Corruption has been the grease that that kept the machinery working. If they stop the grease, things may not work any more."

#nunyas news #gaslight gatekeep girlboss #just girlboss things

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ystrike1 · 2 years

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Here Comes the Silver Spoon - By Portofino (8/10)

This is so specifically for me. Our main girl is a calculating bitch. The love interest develops an obsession over time until he finally decides to use magic to bind her to him. There's an obsessive side character as well, and the villainess is calculating too. It's a battle of the bitches for the position worth the most money, and the art isn't bad either.

Adelaide Sergio is filthy rich. Stinkin rich. Her father loves her, and even though he's often away for work she knows her position is secure. Women can inherit territory in this setting, and Adelaide has put in the work. She speaks 5 languages. She wakes up at 5 to do paperwork. Her childhood friend is her fiance, because he's a skilled accountant with a decent face. Everything is falling into place. Her father isn't dying, but he'll be announcing his successor soon. Adelaide has two siblings, but she is far superior to both of them.

Oops. Her fiance, Jerox, is in love with her younger sister. That sucks, but hey she was going to marry him for convenience purposes. If they're in love she doesn't feel the need to stand in the way. Jerox said Adelaide was his only love a short three years ago, but things change. Noelle is her half sister, and she's deeply insecure about her impure blood. This story takes place in a novel called "Don't Trust Blonds". Noelle was the villain, and she's a truly gifted little bitch. Those are Adelaide's words, not mine. Adelaide didn't let Noelle go to the capital city, because that's where she'll die if she dares to covet the Crown Prince. Noelle is a bully who makes her enemies disappear. She's a popular sort of sociopath, but Adelaide never hated her completely, even though she knew everything. She didn't want Noelle to die pursuing the prince, so she encouraged her younger sister to stay home. Now, of course, Noelle wants to take over the household.

Kayden is Adelaide's half brother. He also knows Noelle is a bitch. He is also willing to kill Noelle for Adelaide. He is another half sibling, that got his purpose in life from Adelaide. He is her personal assassin, and he leads a gang of men who do her dirty work. Adelaide is the daughter of the richest Count. Her hands are not clean, but she is the sanest of the three siblings.

Noelle is a smart little bitch. She stole Jerox because heir candidates have to be married before they accept the title. Kayden is unmarried because he doesn't care about anyone but Adelaide, and he doesn't want to get in her way. Noelle desperately wants to get in her way. Adelaide didn't know she had to marry. Noelle has been hiding important letters and information from her. Now she only has two weeks to find a husband. She chooses Killian, a top ranked member of the Holy Knights.

He is the ideal candidate. He's not very interested in women. He's very handsome, polite, and good with a blade. His family is unknown, so he's not a political threat. It's also acceptable for noble women to marry Holy Knights because they're highly respected. In other words Adelaide won't have to deal with annoying noble in laws if she marries him. Her plan is frankly nuts. She asks him. He says no. She knew he'd say that, so she volunteers to work in his temple. So she can get close to him, and seduce him.

I didn't expect the side villainess to be so cruel, but she is. Sister Rebecca is a devoted servant of God. She has watched many noble girls waltz into the temple looking for a trophy husband. She believes Killian is on her side. Everybody begins to adore Adelaide quickly, because she's a beautiful hard worker, but Rebecca thinks it's all fake. She genuinely thinks Adelaide hasn't been doing any work. Her admirers are doing it for her. She knows it! Sister Rebecca tells Killian to watch Adelaide, because everyone knows he rejected her. Hence, he must dislike her. Sister Rebecca is a very toxic purist who seems to love bringing others down. Killian is not actually on her side, but he can't let Adelaide seduce him. He hates it when the others praise and adore her, because he's jealous. He doesn't want to keep his distance, but he has to.

He's the bastard son of the Emperor, and he has a possessive side that he's very aware of. He has never courted a woman because he doesn't want to tempt that side of himself. Also, being the wife of the Emperors bastard is a big problem. He tries to hold back, but he starts to shatter. Adelaide manipulates him into becoming enamored with her, and she accidentally creates a monster. After less than two weeks Killian doesn't care if she breaks the rules. He'll marry her anyway. Even she is shocked. Her plan didn't even finish brewing before he proposed. Adelaide was accused of threatening the farmers who provide food for the temple. It was a false accusation. Adelaide orchestrated the whole thing to earn his pity, but he proposes before the truth comes out. He doesn't care if she's a bitch or not.

Killan doesn't tell her about the secret of his birth. He asks the head of the temple to bind them. Adelaide is nervous but he ropes her into it. It's not just a prayer. It's an actual spell. Their marriage is permanent. Adelaide cannot divorce him. The icy mask he wore begins to fall away, and he becomes more passionate when she is fully his.

(Adelaide finds a dragon baby that will be relevant in the second season.)

When Adelaide returns home with her new man her father confirms that she will succeed him. He wraps his cloak around her, and he approves of the engagement. Noelle has lost but she's still fighting. Sadly, her attempts to discredit Adelaide will not work. Kayden and Killian are both highly devoted to her. Also, Kayden particularly despises Noelle. Also, Noelle is stuck with a weak ass accountant for a fiance. Season two will probably involve Noelle's fall from grace and a big fat Imperial wedding.

#yandere #male yandere #yandere male #yandere boy #recommendations #recs #rec #recommended #webtoon #Here Comes the Silver Spoon

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sisaloofafump · 5 months

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*Not in the current lost-his-main-fortune status. Numbers represent Net Worth and you can use this link to compare it to actually people

Different eras, different writers, and different media all portray it differently. What do you personally consider baseline canon?

Special bonus points if you can think of an equivalent public figure or how he stacks up to other comic book characters (more or less rich than Lex Luthor or Tony Stark) etc.

[Poll about: Bruce's fame || Bruce's wealth || WE size || WE work || WE charity || Batman's fame || Dick's fame]

#batman #my polls #bruce wayne #dc comics

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csykora · 1 year

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hi csykora! i appreciate this may not be your field of academic interest but as the pre eminent hockey professor i was wondering if you could give any insight as to why some draft classes are just stacked and others are ??? thinking about the absurdity that is the 2015 draft class vs the 2012 class for example

This is a great question! I have 500 answers. :)

I'm not a statistician, so I can't really talk about how particular draft classes are different, but there are a lot of reasons why they are. It's sort of a stew made up of some amount of the following reasons:

the annual draft isn't a snapshot of all the hockey players born in a certain year: it's a sampler of American and Canadian players who were between 18 and 20, and international players between 18 and 21, at a certain point in a certain year. While the top prospects we talk most about do often get taken in the first draft they're eligible for, keep in mind that this is a large and often overlapping group. That means that random differences between kids born in certain years can get folded together in an odd way.

whether you're taken in your first year and if so, where, depends on how much NHL decision makers have seen and heard about you. Teams judge prospects based on the assessments of the Central Scouting Service, and by the team's own scouts. The CSS is meant to be an unbiased resource for the whole league: they're the ones who publish out the twice-yearly draft reports ranking players, and who organize the Combine. (It's worth noting that while other major sports franchises also have league scouting departments to assist their teams, hockey is unique in that it publishes the scouting reports publicly and people, like normal members of the Canadian population with families and jobs, read them. Other sports fans just do not care about ranking prospects like this.) The CSS has about 5-10 full time scouts and 15 part time scouts in North America, and hires 6 more scouts from the European Scouting Service out of Finland to watch European and continental games.

You will notice that the CSS doesn't have a Russian wing. A couple of the ESS's 6 scouts rotate cover it for them, but--and I don't know if you all know this--Russia is large as hell. CSS scouts work long hours and travel ludicrous distances just to cover some of the US and Canada--and even then they manage to make Colton Parayko-sized mistakes. I want to be clear that I respect individual scouts' work, but the CSS reports are fundamentally flawed.

So each team will also hire some number of scouts to hunt for them. Several NHL teams still don't have a Russian scout--meaning an NHL team is ahead of the game if they have one. Russian hockey players barely manage to travel across Russia to get to all of their own games. And that's Russia, one of the richest mines for talent! Most teams don't have consistent scouting in lots of places like Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc. Scouts typically go to international championships and then might follow up on a player who has already been identified as promising. Sometimes while they do that they catch a random glimpse of other players. Vítek Vaněček, for example, is now a sturdy NHLer who wasn't on anybody's radar and would never have been drafted at all if he hadn't happened to be in the same city at the same time as Jakub Vrána.

The team scouts still have to start their hunt based on previous scouting, and some peer pressure. According to Serge Savard, "When Central Scouting comes out with their first-round list, all the scouts think, 'Oh, Christ, I better get this player in my list or I’ll look bad.'" Sure, you want to find a hidden gem before somebody else does, but on the flipside nobody wants to be the person who wasted days of travel and your boss' time by going to freaking Krasnoyarsk to watch some kid play and he turns out to be just okay. There are a lot of boys in Alaska who aren't Colton Parayko. That risk vs. reward leads to a happy medium of mundanity. NHL scouting is, by their own admission, accurate about 50% of the time.

So, did you make it to World Juniors? How did your team do this year, and maybe the year before (since again, we're looking at a draft eligible window)? How did your regular season team do? (And was that because of you, or in spite?) We often talk as though the World Juniors team are the best young players, but realistically if a young player's regular season team is strong and makes it deep into the season, maybe because he's helping them, sometimes they don't want to send him off to tournaments. Youth teams don't really care if one of their players gets on a national team or gets drafted to the NHL--maybe if he does he'll bring some good reputation for their program, or maybe not. In the CHL, it's fuck him really, he'll be 21 and age out anyway. Internationally, going to the NHL might bring a ton of money back to the community, but if there's a local pro team then they can't make money off him. They aren't inclined to be helpful. So it's not that all WJC players are actually bad, but there's a back-and-forth tug of pressures on which young players get on the international stage.

(This is especially a problem for young goalies: getting to the WJC really depends on their team being good enough that they look good, bad enough that they can leave in the middle of the season, or somehow both. In 2007, one of Canada's World Junior goalies put up a pretty miserable .833 save percentage. That was only to be expected--the reason he was available for the tournament was because he'd only won 42 out of the last 115 games for his regular season team, so they weren't exactly busy. As a result, he was drafted in the fourth round. His tandem partner for that tournament managed a more respectable .918, which had been about his average for the last few regular seasons, and was taken by the Avalanche in the second round, inside the top 50 prospects. One of these two players now has a Vezina, a Jennings, a Stanley Cup, and is named Braden Holtby. The other is Trevor Cann, who probably nobody outside Ontario remembers but me, and for sure nobody in Colorado remembers because he's never been there.)

Now, that's not scouting or teams' faults. It's also that 18 to 21 is a mind-bogglingly stupid age to predict young men's physical abilities. It seems like the idea that the human brain isn't "finished developing" until your early twenties has become a relatively common tidbit of science that people talk about on the internet--what I wish people would remember is that's as or more true of young men's freaking skeletons. Those boys are half-baked! There's a relatively wide range in when people reach their full heights, but your skeleton cannot fully mature until you do. In testosterone-driven development, your long bones grow from the soft growth plates at each end, until a hormonal shift stops them, causing the ends of the long bones to harden and thicken. (This process is why people with high T tend to have broader hands and bigger knuckles, in comparison to a similar person with lower T. Note that I phrase it this way because we all have testosterone.) Until that happens, bones are vulnerable to cracking at the growth plates, and muscles which generally attach at the ends of your long bones can become too strong for the bone under them. You really just do not know for sure how strong a boy is going to be until this process finishes, which could be in his mid teens but generally is in his early twenties. And as long as he's growing and his weight distribution is changing, he's going to have to keep adjusting how he moves. Some boys just go through a real gangly awkward stage, and that doesn't mean much of anything. (Speaking of things that don't mean much: the Combine. A lot of the tests aren't relevant, the ones that are, like the Wingate, aren't useful unless you have technical knowledge to interpret them, and it's a bad time to be testing boys anyway). As a pretty predictable result, the NHL tends to favor not just tall men, but men who got tall young, which is actually a pretty specific subset. Parayko grew six inches after he was 18.

Teams and their scouts follow trends, just like the rest of us. They want their own Carey Price, so they look for boys built like Price, who move like Price, even if maybe there's a different shape and style of goalie who would work just as well. They want tall boys. They want players with a certain body fat percentage, which means less than nothing. They want players with muscle in certain areas, so much that young players today do certain exercises just to look the right way. Maybe one year there's a really great smaller player, or a really great defenseman, and everyone gets excited about that guy but also knows they can't all have him, so they look closer than they usually would at other players in that 'type' to try to find a good alternative, and they drive up interest in that type of player.

And players make trends themselves. I think the biggest single explanation for 2015 is that, most of the time, playing either with or against a good player makes you a better player too. From a skill-development perspective, it's not actually the competition that matters, it's not about Eichel trying to beat McDavid, it's just about proximity. We learn from watching each other, being near each other. If you have a guy on your line who has already mastered a skill that you haven't yet, you'll learn it from him faster than you probably would have on your own. If you play against him, you'll learn it too. And when you're a younger kid playing near someone slightly older, who's more physically developed and therefore has had a chance to master more skills, you'll also tend to learn those skills. So again, we're talking about this range from 18 to 21, which I think can give you almost a hangover effect that stretches from year to year: you have a player like Mitch Marner who happens to be old enough to land in 2015, and then you have a younger teammate who had the opportunity to learn with him like Matthew Tkachuk who lands in 2016. (Not the greatest example because I'm sure Tkachuk would have been Tkachuk regardless, but my point is there is a clustering effect, most famously in Warroad, but also in Toronto and other places. Tom Wilson grew up learning to play from his future teammate Devante Smith-Pelly, and so on.)

Also, last but never least, the injuries. They completely change how we feel about a class retroactively. We really can't assume that just because some kid who was drafted high never panned out, he was never that great: very often there just wasn't a place available for him, and then he got injured in some quietly catastrophic way.

#hockey

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goldenquillarchive · 3 months

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Love me out loud

a Idol!Kim and Bodyguard!Kenta au!

↓ Infos and Facts 1

North and Kim are cousins.

Kim and Sonic befriended eachother in Kindergarten, Kim then introduced Sonic to North and the three of them were inseparable.

Kim moved to Korea when he was 19 years to become a Trainee, which resulted in North and Sonic becoming a closer duo

North and Sonic are roommates and have a Official BABE fanpage together, which is the biggest babe fanpage there is, they're both Influencers.

Sonic is a part-time stylist.

Kenta moved from Japan to Thailand when he was 5 years old.

Kenta and Pete are close Childhood friends.

Kenta was in the Army for several years until he got a Shoulder Injury and couldn't go back.

Babe was born and grew up in New Zealand, and moved to Thailand with his family when he was 12. He became a Trainee with 16 and Debuted when he was 20.

Babe is currently Shooting a BL series called X-Hunter: racing hearts, in which he plays a couple with his reallife best friend, Way.

Babe has been dating Charlie for 2 years.

Charlie has been a Trainee for 3 years and is about to debut as a Solo Artist.

Charlie and Jeff are Biological Brothers

Charlie studied Mediadesign and Performing Arts before he became a Trainee.

Jeff started writing Fanfics and BLs when he was 14

when he was 20 he wrote a BL Novel called X-Hunter, it now has over 6 parts and is now being made into a BL Series.

Alan has been working for Beyond Ent. since he was 25.

He's Babes and Phayus Manager.

He's an overall Uncle to everyone in the company.

He was Married to a woman but got divorced at 28, he hasn't been in a relationship since (because babe is robbing his last nerve).

Pete took over Beyond Inc when he was 24, making him the youngest CEO of an Entertainment Company in the world.

He's engaged to Way.

Pete always makes sure his Artists and Staff are comfortable and doing well, he believes firmly in letting his Artists have their creative freedom.

Pete is in the top 10 Richest Men of Thailand.

Way has been an actor since he was 16, he signed with Beyond Ent. when he was 23

Way and Pete have been dating for 4 years, making Way 25 and Pete 31 when they started dating.

Way and Babe have been Best friends since Highschool.

Way is one of Thailands Mist popular young Actors.

This is a piece of FICTION, based on FICTIONAL characters and Headcanons.

None of it is to be taken seriously, this is just for fun.

Almost None of it is Canon, Confirmed or real, expect the ships and personalities.

→ Masterlist

→ Info and Facts 2

#pit babe the series #pitbabekim #pitbabe #thai bl #kentakim #kimkenta #pit babe bl #pitbabe au #lovemeoutloudau

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sadgurls-blog · 3 months

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My Story Animated

Full YouTube Playlist

I Made My Billionaire BF Go Bankrupt

I Fell In Love With BF’s Bodyguard

5 Heartthrobs Fight Over Me

I Was Raised By 5 Monks From China

I Lost My Memory & I Have NO Idea Who I Am

I Played Genshin Impact

A Billionaire Mafia Boy is Obsessed with Me

I’m Isolated from Everyone. Literally

My Brothers won't let me date until 18!

The Devilish Angels (pt1, pt2, pt3, pt4, full movie s1)

The One Wins the Fight, Will Date Me

My Boyfriend Never Runs Out Of Money

The Bully Loves ME Too Much

Im in Love with an ex-prisoner

An FBI Agent Mission is to Protect me

I Fell In Love With a Boy That I Can Never Have

My best friend stole my boyfriend

2 Boys And 1 Heart (pt1, pt2, pt3)

I Fell And Now I Can Only Speak In A Funny Way

The Richest Family In My Town Claim I'm Their Daughter

A Korean Billionaire Is Obsessed With Me

I followed My Crush To The Basement, instantly regrets it

My Dad Is Overprotective But I Do Whatever I Want

My Sister Had 2 Plastic Surgeries To Look Like Me

a party changed my life forever

I Removed My Birthmark & Didn't Recognize Myself

My Life With 200 Bodyguards

I'm Better Than Cruella

My Dad Hired A Bodyguard For Me

He Had No Idea I Was A Secret Agent

My "Perfect Life" When My Sister Was Born

My Bestie’s Boyfriend Fell In Love With Me

The School Bully Treats Me Like A Princess

I got 20 million followers in Tiktok, and now my parents abandoned me

Girls are Jealous of Me Despite of ALL MY Conditions

Paparazzi Chase Me Since I Was A Baby

I turned a homeless into a billionaire then he left me

Mom Isn't Happy That I'm a Successful Singer

My Dad Have A Bank: My Incredible Story (pt1, pt2)

I Got The Worst Fake BF To Make My Crush Jealous

I Dated 10 Guys! The Last One Is Going To Change Everything

The Beautiful Olivia

The President Hired Me

I Found A Way To Time Travel (pt1, pt2, full mini movie)

I Dated My E’s Billionaire Friend As Revenge

I'm The Top In Everything

Me And My Dad Traveling The World Together

Someone Gave Me A 1 Million Dollar Tip

i am too awkward

They Kidnapped Me

I'm Too Shy

My Brother Tricked All My Gf’s To Breakup With Me

I have two personalities. I can’t choose.

I Can’t Tell Anyone My Name

I Had Amnesia And Woke Up Married To A Billionaire

Oops! Hired an Actor as My Bodyguard

i found out why i am pretty

I Was Raised to Be a Criminal

The good and bad of Popularity

People Think I'm Innocent, But I'm Not

I Met MrBeast

I spent all my dad money in 33 days

how a real life princess goes to school

I Started Living Alone at 15

My drama is Worse than Selena Gomez& Hailey Bieber

My Bestie's Ex Likes Me

Switched At Birth

I’m the Tallest Girl Dating the Tallest Boy. We’re Giants

Enjoy life like there is no tomorrow

I Changed My Face To Take Revenge

i have to tell the truth

I’m A Famous Teen Actress, I Do What I Want

Ellie The Hacker

I'm Being Bullied By The People Who Adopted Me, What Happens Next Is Shocking

The Story I Wrote Became My Life

I'm Salish Matter And This Is My Story

My Sister Has The Only Thing I Want In Life

I Paid My Best Friend GF To Fake Date Me

I Lost All My Money So My Bestie Made Me Her Maid

My Stepdaughter Hates Me

We’re a Celebrity Family & We Have NO Privacy

I ruined my $1,000 Louis Vuitton Shirt

I Moved in with my boyfriend at 16

I Bet I Can Make A guy Fall In Love With Me In 14 Days

Billionaire Girls Fight Over Me. I'm a Poor Guy

I made the 3 school billionaire heartthrobs fight over me

i'm Too TALL

#msa #my story animated #fake stories #my story animated stories #youtube stories

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kp777 · 8 months

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By Jake Johnson

Common Dreams

Sept. 5, 2023

"The accumulation of extreme wealth by the world's richest individuals has become an economic, ecological, and human rights disaster."

Hundreds of economists, wealthy individuals, and elected officials from around the world called on the leaders of G20 nations to help tackle runaway inequality by collectively raising taxes on the global rich, who saw their fortunes explode during the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

In an open letter to G20 leaders as they prepared to convene in New Delhi, India this weekend for their annual summit, U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) joined economist Jayati Ghosh, Patriotic Millionaires chair Morris Pearl, philanthropist Abigail Disney, and more than 300 others in declaring that "we cannot allow extreme wealth to continue corroding our collective future."

"Decades of falling taxes on the richest, based on the false promise that the wealth at the top would somehow benefit us all, has contributed to the rise in extreme inequality," the Tuesday letter states. "Our political choices allow ultra-wealthy individuals to continue to use tax shelters and enjoy preferential treatment to the extent that, in most countries in the world, they pay lower tax rates than ordinary people."

"At the same time, the world has seldom had more need for the richest to pay," the letter continues, noting that global extreme poverty rose in 2020 for the first time in more than two decades as Covid-19 threw the world into economic chaos.

That same year, billionaire wealth surged to a new high. Between March 2020 and November 2022, global billionaires collectively added $1.5 trillion to their fortunes, capturing nearly two-thirds of all new wealth.

Meanwhile, according to a recent United Nations report, around 165 million people were thrown into poverty during the pandemic.

"The growing gap between rich and poor has destabilized the global economy, exacerbated the rise of extremist politics, and frayed the very fabric of our social order," said Pearl, the former managing director of the investment giant BlackRock. "As an ultra-wealthy person, representing an organization of like-minded wealthy people, I am asking the G20 to tax us."

Pearl warned that if G20 nations don't "tax extreme wealth, the results will be a perpetually weakened global economy, the decline of democratic institutions, and worsening social unrest. The G20 must act."

The billionaire wealth surge has continued in 2023, with the world's 500 richest people adding more than $850 billion to their combined wealth in the first half of the year.

The new open letter argues that a coordinated G20 agreement imposing wealth taxes on ultra-rich individuals "would shrink dangerous levels of inequality while also allowing leaders to raise vital funds to tackle the multiple challenges facing our world."

"This will not be easy, but it will be worth it," the letter reads. "Much work has already been done. There is an abundance of policy proposals on wealth taxation from some of the world's leading economists. The public wants it. We want it. Now all that's missing is the political will to deliver it. It's time for you to find it."

Oxfam International estimates the average tax rate on the wealthiest individuals in rich countries has fallen from 58% to 42% since 1980, accelerating the rise of economic inequality. Over just the past decade, the combined wealth of global billionaires has more than doubled, growing from $5.6 trillion to nearly $12 trillion.

Billionaires' accumulation of vast wealth is also destructive to the planet. An Oxfam report released last year estimated that a billionaire is responsible for a million times more planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution than the average person.

"The accumulation of extreme wealth by the world's richest individuals has become an economic, ecological, and human rights disaster, threatening political stability in countries all over the world," the open letter reads. "Such steep levels of inequality undermine the strength of virtually every one of our global systems, and must be addressed head-on."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

#extreme wealth #inequality #G20 #patriotic millionaires #billionaires #wealth tax #tax the rich #trickle down economics is false #oxfam

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rosepompadour · 2 years

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what are your favorite heroines written by fitzgerald? and by thomas hardy? and by dickens? and by your other favorite authors? ♡

i cannot believe i’ve had this blog for 84 years and i've never done an official ranking of my girls! i limited myself to twenty characters (one per author), but if an author has more than one amazing heroine, i will be talking about all of them. so let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start! 💗

1.) estella havisham. my forever girl, my number one heroine when it comes to serious literature, and the blueprint for all my bitchy rich girl faves - of which there are many on this list. but no one compares to estella! you might be a spoiled brat, but have you been bent and broken into a better shape?

2.) natasha rostova / kitty shcherbatsky. i think i would ultimately choose natasha if it ever came to that - she’s just a richer character, and one of the only major literary heroines who has a killer sense of humor - but kitty is my sweet pink marshmallow. it’s a very close call!

3.) cosette / eponine. again, i can’t choose. i think eponine is the more complex and sophisticated character, but cosette is so GOOD! she’s just loveable, which is a very hard quality to pin down. i love them both so much. 10/10 for each!

4.) eustacia vye, followed so closely by tess that the difference is infinitesimal. tess is the greater heroine (goodness made interesting - name a bigger challenge in literature!), but god, i fucking love eustacia. the chapter introducing her in return of the native is still the single best in-depth breakdown of a character’s personality that i have ever encountered in a novel.

5.) anne shirley, because she’s been with me my entire life and has taught me more about happiness than any other character i’ve ever come across. “the iron has entered into my soul, diana!”

6.) isabel archer. does she make poor decisions? yes. would she have been better off without the money? double yes! but the drama is what makes her shine. i know this book is dense, but read it anyway - because if you don’t, you’ll never meet isabel, and you will miss out on one of the richest experiences of your life. it’s not a light read, but it is my favorite read.

7.) emma bovary, my favorite mess. she’s mean and unrealistic and a little stupid, but that scene at the end where she just cracks open and all her anger comes spilling out is what makes her amazing. the french have a flair for tragedy (c'est dans le fucking titre in the case of les mis!), but nothing compares to the heartbreak of watching emma, who thinks that death will be like falling asleep, when she feels the arsenic start to work and realizes she was wrong: “oh! it is beginning!” it will not be an easy death. she is not an easy character. but mon dieu, i adore her!

8.) catherine barkley. brett ashley is hemingway’s best female character, but catherine is the one who has my heart. she’s incredibly romantic and feminine and starry-eyed (with the most beautiful hair in all of literature!), but what makes her great is that this dreamy quality is a deliberately willed reaction to intense trauma. she CHOOSES to love. she is proof that you can be a girly girl and still be made of iron and steel. she’s so smart and courageous, and i am forever obsessed with her!

9.) sibyl vane, the girl who died for believing in fairy tales.

10.) tatyana larina rounds out my top ten for leaving onegin on read after he left her on read. the russians have the best heroines. i will not budge on this!

11.) yvonne de galais. she’s a ten (or in fournier-speak: “the fairy, the princess, the dream of love itself!”), but she can’t hold on to her man. 💔

12.) emma woodhouse. i’m not a huge austen fan, but i feel like out of all the girls on this list, emma would “get” me the most and go out of her way to befriend me. we are, unfortunately, very much alike.

13.) beatrice. do you know how much i suffered over choosing just one shakespeare heroine? an impossible task, but a girl who loves to laugh as much as bea does deserves to be number one. (it’s why the très witty rosalind is a close second, followed by the more tragically-inclined ophelia.)

14.) rosemary hoyt. this was the hardest one. i ultimately went with rosemary because she has all the qualities of the quintessential fitzgerald girl (young, fun, glamorous, spoiled, beautiful), but she’s much more likeable than rosalind, gloria, daisy, or even my beloved jordan. also in the top three are eleanor savage, who would be number one if she had her own book (“here am i with the brains to do everything - too bright for most men, and yet i have to descend to their level!”), and cecilia brady, hollywood princess extraordinaire and the west coast equivalent of nick carraway.

15.) amy march, america’s least favorite sister - and my personal favorite. this country has no taste. no wonder amy left!

16.) linda radlett. a little awful, but terribly funny and, in a weird way, kind of admirable in her single-minded ~pursuit of love. my mom wanted to watch the lily james version, thinking it would be a nice downton-esque period drama, and i had to tell her v. bluntly that there is nothing nice about the pursuit of love and that i couldn’t watch it with her because i knew she would hate linda. some things are just too sick-making!

17.) miss holiday golightly, travelling!

18.) lucy honeychurch. aside from being a genuinely cool girl who rejects the second-worst man in all of literature (the ultimate worst being angel clare), she also has the greatest name in the canon, which guarantees her a position in my top twenty.

19.) marguerite gautier, just because she’s actually marie duplessis and my love for marie is boundless and obsessively documented.

20.) franny glass. there aren’t many girls who possess the crazy level of self-confidence required to order a glass of milk in a restaurant while wearing a glam raccoon coat, but franny is one of the few. i related to her an embarrassing amount when i was a teenager, and while the association has faded, she remains my favorite glass sibling to this day.

#letters #literature #@ my darling girl molly gibson: you were SO CLOSE!

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rtc-confessions · 20 days

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Alright, y'all asked for this, this is the first OC I've got out of.....God knows how many. Just to note, I'm autistic and I have ADHD, so most, if not all of mine will not be neurotypical. (I do have a picture for this OC, but IDK if this will accept it) (CW: hospital mention, a ton of injuries, bees

Name: Brynn McCoy Age: 15 Birthday: August 19th Zodiac Sign/Nature: Leo, the sunny nature. Favorite Ride: Happy Honeybee Ride. RTC Superlative Title (The __est boy/girl/kid/etc in town): The Most Outgoing Girl in Town. Catchphrase: "There's nothing that can't be solved with some music, a funny cat video, or some duct tape." Short Karnak-style Backstory: Brynn was born to two first-generation Canadians; her father is a police officer and the son of an Irish textile worker and a British banker while her mother is a stay-at-home mom and a beekeeper and the daughter of two Ukrainian immigrants, one a seamstress and the other a farmer. While not exactly the richest family, they managed to make do with what they have. Due to her hyperactive nature, Brynn was diagnosed with ADHD when she was six years old, but due to her need to check on the bees at least once a day, listen to her favorite songs at least once a day, and other ritualistic behaviors along with a delay in certain milestones, she was diagnosed with autism at age 9. Brynn adored the small town of Uranium City, despite the dreariness of it, and made a promise to herself to make at least one person smile each day, having meltdowns whenever she went a day without making someone smile. This pushed her to study other people and figure out what they liked, making her a friendly face around Uranium City and earning her the title of the Most Outgoing Girl in Town. Some random facts about Brynn: -Pan and has a crush on another one of my OCs who is a girl from Ukraine. -Extremely accident-prone, is on a first name basis with hospital staff. -She likes mosquito bites, something about feeling alive. -If there's a female cartoon character that's hyperactive, bubbly, sweet, cute, and wants to make others smile, chances are that she has them as a comfort character. -Primary Comfort Characters are Pinkie Pie, Enid Sinclair, Star Butterfly, and Mabel Pines. -Has been a Girl Guide (Canadian Girl Scout) since she was 5. -Nicknamed the Bunny-Bee Princess of St. Cassian. -Makes funny commentary during arguments as a coping mechanism. -Has a special interest in bees along with arts and crafts. -Soprano/Alto alternating in the choir. -Rejection Sensitive. -Favorite song is Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf and The Smile Song from MLP. -If she was a magical girl, this is what her transformation would look like: Brynn takes out a wand with a top that looks like the combination of a disco ball and the top of one of those honey wand things.

"Let's get buzzy on the dance floor!" she exclaims.

Catchy disco music with a slight modern twist plays as a multicolored dance floor appears underneath her and a disco ball above her. As she dances, her transformation gives her hair a 1970s disco dancer look and honey bee antennae appear. Her clothes change to a bee-striped dress with disco ball shimmer, and disco dancer sleeves, cute gloves with a small honeybee on each one and glittering gold platform shoes. She gets honey-gold eyeshadow, bold mascara and eyeliner to make her eyes look bigger, black lipstick, neon flowers on each cheek, and her irises change to a honey gold.

"Let the music move you, let the groove flow through you; I'm Disco Honey!"

She ends in a cute pose.

List of things Brynn has done in her life thusfar: (and has somehow not died from any of them)

1. Learned a Ukrainian song in (roughly) the span of two days after listening to it a bunch to impress the girl she has a crush on.

2. Decorated her Bible with honeybee scratch-n-sniff stickers that smell like honey. (Also asked if it was a sin to do so.)

3. Hung upside down in a tree for so long that she passed out and when she woke up, it was like 3 am, she was covered in mosquito bites, and her dad and his cop buddies were climbing up the tree to get her down and she had to go to the hospital to check for brain damage.

4. Hung onto some monkey bars past the recess bell until her dad picked her up after school.

5. Had a conversation with Jesus as she was doing so.

6. Went as a washing machine for Halloween at His advice in grade 3.

7. Went as a Biblically-accurate angel in grade 7, wearing the costume to school on Halloween.

8. Cried during a Christmas party because she thought Jesus was in all of the crackers there.

9. Watched that Spongebob Christmas Special and tried to climb our Christmas tree so that she could be the star on top like Patrick when she was 6. And fell off the tree.

10. Had a hyperfixation on penguins when she was 8 and tried to slide down an icy hill on her belly like they did. And blacked out and ended up in the hospital. Again.

11. Chose to be a hunter wolf when she played wolf clans at recess because it gave her an excuse to run around the playground, until she got demoted to medicine wolf because she kept crashing into trees.

12. Once said what she thought was a bad word and so she cleaned out my mouth with soap and accidentally swallowed the soap bar.

13. Tried to eat cake while sleeping and woke up coughing.

14. Dressed up as a flower and sat by the apiary to see if the bees would try to suck nectar from her.

15. Tested to see if banana peels are slippery like in cartoons. 16. Tried to use a sleigh as a winter surfboard once. 17. Tried to build a castle out of girl guide cookie boxes and fell off the ladder. (Yeah, I might have a problem.)

#rtc ocs #rtc #confessions

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pixiedustperspectives12 · 6 months

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#8 Princess and the frog

This movie is without a doubt a classic disney movie. It has some of the best soundtracks of any disney movie, amazing characters, and a beautiful friendship that should never go unnoticed.

First things first I want to talk about my favorite song: Dig a little deeper. This is definitely one of my favorite Disney songs ever because of its catchy rhythm and nice message. This song is about finding who you are even if you believe you've already found your true self. I think it's a great message that is super easy to understand the first time listening to the song it's something i understood right away. It also has such a catchy beat that makes me want to listen to the song all the time. I remeber fist time I watched the movie once I was older I downloaded this song right away and it can be found in almost every single playlist I have, I get so excited evrytime this song comes on, it's the best way to start my day. The vocals in this song flow so nicely with the beat and fit the song so well, I couldn't imagine any other voice.

The best disney friendship by far is Charlotte and Tianas. Charlotte grew up as the richest family in town and never made Tiana feel bad about her situation. Charlotte supports Tiana her whole life and never leaves her side which is something I wish I had. Even when Tiana becomes a princess which was Charlotte's dream she never made her feel bad or ruined their relationship, she supported her 100%. In my opinion, Charlotte is the friend everyone wishes they had when only a select few truly do. I want a friend like Charlotte, from how she looks and how she acts towards others she dosen't seem like the best person but I love that the writers made her a very good friend and likeable character and not a villan or fake friend to Tiana.

Finally, I want to talk about Ray. Ray is my favorite character in this movie and definitely a top 5 favorite character over all. He's hilarious every everytime he speaks im dying of laughter. One of my favorite lines is "Don't make me light my butt" I think about this line often it's something I just can't forget because of how i was rolling with laughter. Unfortunately, Ray dies at the end of the movie, his death destroyed me. Whenever I watch this movie and it reaches this part i'm bawling my eyes out by the end and need to find comfort in the chips i'm eating. One aspect about his death that has me crying tears of joy however, is when he lights up as a star next to evangaline, his one true love. The whole movie he wasn't able to even get close to evagaline but he gets to rest next to her for eternity which makes me so unbelievably happy that even tho he passed he still got his happy ending.

The reason this movie isn't ranked higher on the list is because this is a movie I watched as a kid but as I grew up and forgot about it. One night when I was bored and wanted to watch a movie I just happend to stumble across the princess and the frog, i do truly love this movie and think about Ray constently but the rest of the movie is easy to forget. When rewatching it I also realised how much I don't like the villan, I know the villan isn't supposed to be liked but I didn't enjoy the type of villan he was or what he would do, I never really saw a motive, he was boring.

For all of these reasons i'm rating this movie number 8 out of 10 best disney movies.

Hint for movie #1: This princess is part of the 12 original disney princesses.

#disney #disney princess #firefly

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