The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire

The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire

2017, Conspiracy  -   24 Comments
8.69
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Ratings: 8.69/10 from 214 users.

In the days of the British Empire, London served as the world's most impressive financial center. As the empire began its decline, anti-colonial sentiment became more rampant and greater numbers of British territories began to strive for independence. The financial stronghold of its capital city began to deteriorate as well. The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire recounts how the country transformed to become a global financial power in the face of these challenges, and how their continued prominence shapes the world we live in today.

The City of London banking network began constructing a web of overseas jurisdictions in the wake of the empire's demise, and hid these monies offshore where they were sheltered from meaningful outside scrutiny. They started to indulge in unregulated forms of lending using U.S. currency. This wealth was accumulated through any means necessary, including a laundry list of nefarious acts of fraud, tax evasion, drugs and arms trading, and additional covert operations. It's a system rife with corruption. Some of the money was stripped from poor countries, depriving these struggling economies of their capacity for badly needed growth and infrastructure development.

Throughout the film, we are presented with a tale of two Londons. One is the bustling epicenter much romanticized by the United States and other parts of the world while the other is a freewheeling market run by elite business players who cleverly shirk the gaze of international financial regulations.

"In Britain, bankers are a protected species," confesses one interview subject who is part of a chorus of whistle-blowers, financial insiders and social justice activists who populate the film. We are told that as much as $50 trillion dollars reside in overseas accounts that act as tax havens; many of the most robust of these havens are British.

The end result is a system that works to benefit the wealthiest individuals. Meanwhile, the hard-working taxpaying citizens continue to struggle and suffer.

Featuring a collage of authentic newsreel footage and insights from a team of top financial investigators, The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire is immaculately researched and well presented portrait of a complex global conspiracy.

Directed by: Michael Oswald

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Asterion Maze
Asterion Maze
1 month ago

This may be a good documentary, but after 30 minutes I had to give up. The production is just AWFUL. There is a constant background loop of a grinding / whirring noise that is so loud, grating and distracting that listening to the interviewees becomes impossible. Whoever is responsible for the audio on this movie should be sacked and never work again. It is unnecessary and simply unbearable!
Like I say, I was unable to focus on the content due to some incredibly STUPID stylistic decisions by the programme makers.
Seriously bad. I hope someone else remakes this programme and gives it the decent production that it deserves. It's an interesting and important subject but, like I said, this documentary is unwatchable. A real shame.
One to avoid.

Henry Cockburn
Henry Cockburn
1 year ago

This documentary raises some interesting and important points, but it's ideological bias means it is presented entirely conspiratorially and from the perspective that the State is entitled to help itself to your wealth at will. For example, it is the fault of the offshore banking secrecy that African leaders have looted billions from the African people rather than the corrupt leaders themselves. There is no mention of the fact that many of the people/funds exposed by the Panama Papers were both legal and the reasons for operating via Panama are to avoid intermediate taxes which reduce final investment returns, rather than a final tax bill when the capital is repatriated. There is no discussion of why government tax policies might incentivise the use of offshore schemes, preferring to assume that anybody wealthy is just greedy. The increasingly popular proposal amongst some left-wing politicians for a wealth tax, even on assets with unrealised gains, will only incentivise the use of such havens. I watched Elon Musk pay an $11bn personal tax bill earlier this year and still saw left-wing supporters and politicians screaming at him for not paying more. While such a sense of entitlement to other people's wealth exists then tax havens will also exist. Secrecy is another subject needing much more discussion. Of course secrecy can be used to allow terrorist financing, money laundering and other criminal activity, which is obviously undesirable, but there is no discussion of government tyranny. We saw this earlier in the year when the Trudeau government froze the bank accounts and financial assets of people who had perfectly legally donated money to the truckers who were protesting his policies in Canada. Whether you agreed with the truckers or not, that was the act of a tyrannical regime. So it's no wonder people desire secrecy from the all-intrusive hand of government.
The whole subject is far more nuanced than this documentary suggests.

Robbie Roth
Robbie Roth
1 year ago

Give it up everybody....... If you were wealthy and needed to hide money you'd probably use a tax haven! I do it's great!

Simon Marks
Simon Marks
4 years ago

Why the hell is this in conspiracy category?

Phil
Phil
4 years ago

Supurb expose, thanks from Jersey. You have done an excellent job, I hope the People get what you are saying : ) Banking and politics are front for an elite clique of criminals. Order followers protect them. People, change your behavior and end the scam being played on you!

Sammy
Sammy
4 years ago

I just hope that they don't poison our salmon with the biggest gold mine in north america. This type of money has no acountibility as far as environmental remediation. If a corporation is a person then corporations should be bound by borders and laws likewise. Liberty and justice will prevail

Geo
Geo
5 years ago

So which is worse: govt greed, corporate greed, or individual greed?

One causes tyranny, oppression, and the theft of power from the people, the other does eventually if the govt greed is too great by worming its way into govt, and the last one, for the most part only causes jealousy and hatred among those that don't think ...especially again, when the govt greed is too great and then they park their money elsewhere rather than supporting (causing it to grow worse) a greedy tax monster govt.

The USA came into being, essentially as a tax revolt due to a greedy govt in England wanting to tax/steal more and more from the colonies to pay for wars elsewhere. Taxation with no representation, no benefit. The Founders of the once great usa would be rolling their graves at the taxation of today.

You will never solve tax avoidance without first dealing with govt socialistic greed. Trump proved this by lowering tax on overseas operations so companies would bring their dollars home to invest in our own economy and move some of those operation back onshore and create decent jobs. That alone has helped more minorities than any recent president. Yet the Democrats despise Trump for actually helping those they claim to want to help. Those at the top of the Democrat party really don't want to help anyone, they want to keep them down and needing "free stuff" so they can buy their votes.

Markobarko
Markobarko
5 years ago

At the end it is us, the people, who "eat" people. And no law and no government will change that, since this is the nature, of a human kind.

joshua
joshua
5 years ago

The important documentary exposes the City of London (an arm of the Mafia head of the snake, the Vatican.) - a separate and private sovereign state from England and London - which owns and controls one-half of England's Parliament - the City has the power to stop any law coming into force. England is a fascist nazi state run by the Vatican Mafia and is not a free country and never has been a democracy. The money is printed by the private company called the 'Bank of England', based in the foreign power jurisdiction of the City of London (hence, why the Bank of England cannot be named in any court in England). The Bank charges 8% on each pound it prints for the government of England and all our taxes go to pay that interest which the City of London then hides in offshore Trusts - in which it has hidden 500+ Trillion to date according to the documentary. This and the world taxes paying off Rothschild (Vatican agent) central bank interest is then used by the Vatican to buy real assets and obtain real wealth and simply buy the world thru corruption. We can only stop this by printing our own debt free money - and shutting down the City and Bank of England and the Freemason Mafia - but if we do this the Vatican will do an Iraq or Libya on us! No country unless it is under suppression from a foreign power has to pay taxes.

Mamierouen
Mamierouen
5 years ago

This documentary is frightening but absolutely true. It is amazing that anyone would have the courage to make it. Their lives are in danger. And there is more that these corrupt people do, assassination, identity theft, persecution and human rights denial to even these company's Clients. This program does not address that the clients are also at the mercy of the money mad, power mad, lying lawyers who bribe and control profit seeking corrupt government officials, police, media, accountants, doctors, hospitals, immigration, ad infinitum. Even the agencies meant to put an end or make public the truths are corrupt.

Devil Travels
Devil Travels
5 years ago

So this is what really makes outsourcing government services so lucrative and so inefficient. And the solutions at the end of the video will never occur since the people who can make them happen tend to be chosen to benefit from the perpetuation. The voters are easily manipulated to insure this.

Urban dweller
Urban dweller
5 years ago

"...in the face of these challenges..." What? ??????? The " challenge of usurping another country's resources/economy? The challenge of how to do evil acts and make them work for "you?" WOW!