it was the cayman islands alternative investment summit.republican president of the united states headlining an invest your money in the cayman islands conference at the exact time that the new presidential nominee of his own party was enduring 24-hour-a-day speculation about stuffing his personal money in cayman islands tax shelters. there is no job description for how an ex-president is supposed to behave, or for how an ex-president is supposed to make a living. but our most recent ex-president, george w. bush, has decided to make his living, at least in part, for giving speeches for money, even when it is hugely political awkward like in the cayman islands, and even when it is fairly embarrassing, like the get rich quick motivated seminars. well, in that spirit, former president george w. bush tonight is the keynote speaker at a fund-raiser for something called the messianic jewish bible institute. this was first reported in mother jones on thursday night of last week. if you want to go to this event at the messianic jewish bible institu

and their british overseas territories like the cayman islands or the british virgin islands grounded pansies and some commonwealth states campaigners say when it suits britain it intervenes in this territories policies in fact in two thousand and nine that you came pose direct rules over the turks and chaos islands some of the cash estimated to be about three hundred thirty billion dollars can be traced all the way back to london are displayed local reports on why the secrecy is hard to resist. the u.k. government has been bashing tax avoidance for months in fact prime minister david cameron made increasing tax transparency a key issue at the g eight summit that he hosted earlier this year but despite all the efforts according to a group called the tax justice network britain is the world's worst offender for financial secrecy twelve of its island dependencies where the queen is the head of state by the way ranked among the top fifty most secretive tax jurisdictions in the world the laws relating to these island dependencies such as the cayman islands been huge a jersey and guns they

they go off to the cayman islands, they go off to tax havens, they get hidden in swiss bank accounts, who know what? but they don't get subjected to american taxation. so -- and by the way, that's pretty big business. chairman conrad, who was our predecessor chairman on the budget committee, used to have a slide that he would show here that showed a picture of a rather bland-looking four-spr or five-story building, a building in the cayman islands that didn't look like very much, not very big. you could drive by it and not particularly notice it. but he would point out that in that little building, over 18,000 companies claimed to be doing business. and he would point out that the kind of business that they were doing was monkey business with the tax code because nobody could put 18,000 businesses into that rinky-dink little building. and none of that stuff gets counted. the $149 trillion is the stuff that goes through and then out the back door. -- the $149 trillion is the stuff that goes through and then out the back door. so the spending, the earmarks that gets done through the tax

next, to the cayman islands. english tax evade be where. british territory signed and information sharing agreement to help british authorities improve tax collection. all information on taxpayers held in the cayman islands will automatically be provided to her majesty revenue. they will uset to help those trying to launder and hide money to pay any tax that was somehow in and partly for iran. laing in japan where cars will soon be able to read your mind. i am afraid o this one. toyota is unveiling a color changing mood of reading car at the tokyo auto show. it is still in the concept stages. engineers envision the car using applications. the use of facial and voice recognition. what is the car looks like when you have reached? all right. nothing short of electric. the stock up more than 400% this year it is the day of reckoning. the big report jt came out. did they crash and burn? stay where u are. at the end of the day it is all abou ♪ melissa: tesla is finally facing its day of reckoning. itas been on a wild ride, but shares areiving aft

secretive tax jurisdictions in the world the laws relating to these island dependencies such as the cayman islands been huge a jersey and guns they have to be approved in london so campaigners say that the onus is on westminster to clean up their act what to talk about the issue i'm joined by salmond shaheen who's the editor of the international tax review magazine simon thank you for joining us well the people that deposit their money in these tax havens do it through entirely legal schemes so what's the fuss about anyway but i think it's a misconception to describe tax avoidance as legal it's just not illegal and the reason for that government has been unable to anticipate the be the schemes employed by multinational corporations and their highly paid armies of accountants and lawyers that they've they've sent across the world to reach out the best tax feels their claims that britain has made a lot of steps to improve transparency especially over recent months they've certainly spoken a lot about it are you surprised by these negative rankings i'm not surprised but no i mean the crown dependenci

matter now he said accurately that these practices are totally legal so how do they work the cayman islands is a famous tax haven but what about the tropical island of ireland yeah for tropical martin sullivan is the chief economist at tax and analysis the trade publication that looks at the nitty gritty of tax policy and he joined me earlier and i asked him about his comment about asked him if countries will continue to compete against one another to bring companies to their shores or whether the all the nations can just come to a consensus regarding corporate tax rates. that's nice but i don't think it's ever going to happen i think what we're having is a natural convergence you know when i started doing this a few decades ago we were talking about forty and fifty percent tax rates and now it doesn't matter if you're a liberal or conservative everybody recognizes that the rates have to come down into the twenty's in the united states. and then the rest of the world is is also lowering their rates but what i am in favor of is everybody being reasonable it is not so terrible from a u.s. poi

i got to try it in the cayman islands, first learning to hold my breath. see my body heaving?re convulsions, my body demanding to breathe. divers learn to ignore the pain. that's at the surface, diving to depths squeezes your lungs. at depths of 300 feet your lungs go from the size of a football to the size of a tennis ball. mevoli knew that at those depths any mishap could be fatal. >> never take a dive for granted. you don't know what dive is going to be your last. >> reporter: matt gutman, abc news, miami. >>> still ahead when we come back right here, it's our "instant index." we have a surprise about a christmas classic. ♪ for auld lang syne >> the news tonight about "it's a wonderful life" when we come back. about "it's a wonderful life" when we come back. of 146 football fields... the length they can see the light of a single candle. your eyes are amazing. look after them with centrum silver. multivitamins with lutein and vitamins a, c, and e to support healthy eyes and packed with key nutrients to support your heart and brain, too. centrum silver. for the most amazing p

secretive tax jurisdictions in the world the laws relating to these island dependencies such as the cayman islands been huge jersey and guns they have to be approved in london so campaigners say that the onus is on westminster to clean up their act what to talk about the issue i'm joined by salmond shaheen who's the editor of the international tax review magazine simon thank you for joining us well the people that deposit their money in these tax havens do it through entirely legal schemes so what's the fuss about anyway but i think it's a misconception to describe tax avoidance says illegal it's just not illegal and the reason for that governments have been unable to anticipate the feed schemes employed by multinational corporations and their highly paid accountants and lawyers that they've they've sent across the world to reach out to the best tax feels their claims that britain has made a lot of steps to improve transparency especially over recent months they've certainly spoken a lot about it are you surprised by these negative rankings i'm not surprised but no i mean the crown dependencies in

the rules relating to the side and dependencies such as the cayman islands then you need a jazzy and can't seem to be appraised in london state and penn state the mystic is on west main set to clean up their acts the bc i'm joined by some unseen in the midst of the international tax review magazine. simon thank you for joining us well. people had to pause and then money in these tax havens tonight through friday. both teams said what's the fuss about it anyway. but i think it's a misconception to describe tax avoidance is legal it's just not a legal and the reason for the kids and governments of being unable to anticipate the yep the scheme's employed by multinational corporations in that highly paid to ami says accountants and lawyers that they felt they sent across the world to resell the best deals that clients first was made to a loss of steps to create transparency especially the recent months the sassy spoken of what's about to be surprised by these negative rankings. no surprise but no i mean except the crown dependencies neighbor sees the trees that have long been considered

. >> i met hoda in the cayman islands at a breast cancer gala i was invited to. >> it waso funny. light from her eyes. and i waed to be in her aura, in her ccle. and knew that she'd had breast cancer at some point. anif you look closely,ou see one breast. the other is ft. >> i show my scars, it's going to help so my other people out ere. because even if u don't have a scar on the outside, you might have one on the inside. >> sheaid, you know, they ld me that i ve, you know, months to live. and the room just was dead silent. i'll never forget what she said after that. >> i'm going tdie the happiest woman in t world. so thank you so much [ cheers and appuse ] >>he weird thing is, i think she -- i think she w the luckiest girl in the room. and i looked at her,nd i thought, younow what? i'rather live to be 35ears old and be jill than live to be 65 years old ande that cranky woman who was just cplaining out the dinner. >> i keep a journal that i write in for my nieces. i'm not around, thedvice th i would give them. i will always be the angel lookg over you. >> every time i had a though

i got to try it in the cayman islands, first holding my breath. see my body heaving?onvulsions, my body demanding to breathe. >> five minutes on the dot. >> reporter: at the surface, diving to depths squeezes your lungs. at 300 feet, your lungs go from the size of a football to the size of a tennis ball. and mizzoli knew it could be fatal. >> never take a dive february granted. you don't know what dive is going to be your last. >> reporter: abc news, miami. >> so sad. the international governor earning body of that sport says this is the first time in the 21-year history of these kind of competitions that anyone has died. >> my goodness. by the way, this is considered the wimbledon of free diving. it's an annual event and attracts top athletes from around the world who come to do this kind of thing. and unfortunately this year, tragedy struck. that bad for his family. i'm sure that's the kind of thing that his family probably said, you know, we're really worried about this kind of thing. then to have it come true is terrible. >> all right. >>> coming up, what an oscar

and we have our biggest companies putting money in bermuda, putting money in the cayman islands. earning profits and paying no taxes on them at all and lo and behold, we're told there's no money for the poorest people in the country. >> here's the other thing i would say. you have in your hand here, these are pay fors, right? money -- revenue you can raise. >> absolutely. >> this is what i would say n. the absence of being able to pass this, just have a bigger deficit. i'm serious, i would prefer a bigger deficit in the amount of $4 billion than literally taking food out of the mouths of hungry people which we are doing today in the most shameful way imaginable. >> absolutely. >> and if it doesn't agree with you, fine, but you're in new york city alone. we're going to lose at the end of this month, $17 million and the end of next month, $17 million and it's going to continue. >> to the local economy. >> it was a great pleasure having you both here. >> thank you for having us. >>> what happens when a sort of joke way to raise money for a fake campaign becomes a totally real way to

are places like the netherlands, and ireland, in case you're not getting it, the kaylynn -- the cayman islands. it really should not be that way. it does not need to be that way and it is not really making the country more competitive or creating jobs to have it be that way. so, the principle is, do not try to raise more money, but try to raise money in a better way and do not keep a set of uncertainties that all but forces everybody to leave their money abroad. >> i could keep going but if you have a question. ok. healthcare.gov is a disaster. how much damage has that done to trust in the government to do anything? >> we will see. it cannot be good. [laughter] look, this is an unhappy tale. many of you know from your own experiences that the right general rule on large i.t. projects is, take what they say, double it, and then move to the next higher unit of time. so days become weeks and weeks become months. i could continue the sequence. that is true when it is done in the private sector. and there is no organized constituency for failure. and when it was done in the public sector there was

simultaneously embezzling millions of dollars, $9 million, from adm, and laundering it into swiss and cayman islands and hong kong bank accounts. so when you stand back and look at it, say , 'well, he committed other crimes, he--he gets another sentence.' that, in turn, caused a waiver of his cooperation agreement. he committed crimes he wasn't supposed to. so they also prosecuted him on price-fixing charges, which is a--a very uncomfortable outcome. now the problem with this case, ultimately, was that it wasn't treated like a normal criminal case. cooperating witnesses go bad all the time, you know. this is not unusual. the--the--in fact, the--the us attorney from chicago, who was directly involved in this case, scott lassar, at the very time they're finding out whitacre has 'gone bad,' in law enforcement terms, had another case, using another cooperating witness who'd been working for the fbi, and it had just emerged that he had committed crimes while working for the fbi. same thing. usually what is done, is the people running the case go in and cut a deal. they cut a deal where they say, 'ok, you

millions of dollars from the very company they were investigating, laundering the money in swiss and cayman islands bank accounts. c-span: who's dwayne andreas? >> guest: dwayne andreas is a giant on the political and international landscape. he is a fellow who most americans probably haven't heard of, but most politicians probably can never forget. this is a fellow who--whenever they're talking about campaign finance reform, you're always going to hear the name dwayne andreas coming up. he, dating back to the--the time of thomas dewey, has been a--a major contributor to both political parties. every white house occupant, going back to at least kennedy, has been a close associate of dwayne andreas. and he has had an enormous impact on the laws of this country, as they've--as they've been shaped. he is--he is--his voice has been heard, and there's not a year that goes by where they don't debate such standards as adding ethanol to gasoline, where the-the biggest--the biggest benefit for that rule is the archer daniels midland company. and there are people who say flat-out, you know, 'we are giving ad

that actually creates incentives for american companies to move their profits to places like the cayman islands so obviously we should look at various fees because we want to make sure that the fees are set at the levels of the service provider but again we do find it very strange that republicans would want to take off the table the closure of tax breaks that protect special interests and very wealthy individuals while they want to look at the other fees that have a broader impact on the american public. so why they would focus on one to the exclusion of the other is a question people are going to have to ask themselves about priorities. >> especially when at that same time they want seniors to pay more for their medicare. so far there've budget is one of millionaires over medicare and we are on the side of the american people who have access to medicare as the pillar of their economic and health security. so hopefully the budget will be driven by values. hopefully it will be evidence-based. hopefully it will be reflecting the need for us to get to work to create jobs and to reduce the deficit

are places like the netherlands, and ireland, in case you're not getting it, the kaylynn -- the cayman islandsit really should not be that way. it does not need to be that way and it is not really making the country more competitive or creating jobs to have it be that way. so, the principle is, do not try to raise more money, but try to raise money in a better way and do not keep a set of uncertainties that all but forces everybody to leave their money abroad. >> i could keep going but if you have a question. ok. healthcare.gov is a disaster. how much damage has that done to trust in the government to do anything? >> we will see. it cannot be good. [laughter] look, this is an unhappy tale. many of you know from your own experiences that the right general rule on large i.t. projects is, take what they say, double it, and then move to the next higher unit of time. so days become weeks and weeks become months. i could continue the sequence. that is true when it is done in the private sector. and there is no organized constituency for failure. and when it was done in the public sector there was a

places that show up having the highest profits are places like the netherlands and ireland and the cayman islands shouldn't be that way. it really doesn't need to be that way and it's not only making the country more competitive for creating jobs to have it be that way. so the principle is don't try to raise more money but try to raise money in a much better way and certainly don't keep a set of uncertainties that all but forces everybody to leave their money abroad. >> i can keep going but do you have a question of? healthcare.gov is a disaster. how much damage has that done to the trust americans have in the ability of the government to do anything? >> we will see. he can't be good. [laughter] look, this is an unhappy tale. many of you know from your own experiences that the right general rule on large i.t. projects is take what they say, double it and then move to the next time so days become weeks and weeks to come on. i can continue this sequence. and that is true when it's done in the private sector and there is no organized constituency. when it was done in the public sector there was a ma