Vexed Bermoothes

A Liberal Democrat member of the UK Public Accounts Committee has gone on a rant:

One interesting report, although not directly about taxation, was on managing risk in overseas territories. It turned over a stone that covered the vast and murky world of tax avoidance and tax evasion, which is a whole industry in places such as Bermuda, where I think there are about 80 per cent of all hedge funds. We found that huge amounts of money were being moved around the world by companies that had connections with this country. Surely it is unacceptable that those corporate pirates—the hedge funds—can hide out there, free like the old-time pirates, to create havoc on the financial markets and to account to no one. Surely that must be tackled.

Yes, there you have it:  the global financial meltdown can solely be blamed on Bermuda.  It has nothing to do with the freewheeling habits of Wall Street and City of London or poor regulation of the US and UK banking/mortgage sectors.