Do you ever wonder how the rich stay that way? What exactly they do to stop taxes and tariffs from whittling away at their money? Are you curious about how they leave so much wealth to their children?

This video will answer all those questions and more. Teaching you how the world of wealth really works. And Illuminating the tricks and tactics employed by the rich and powerful like tax havens, they touch not just on financial regulations but also on global corruption and crime.

When finance became global, piecing things together began to get very difficult – something of which very clever and very rich people have taken great advantage.

Prior to World War II, global finance was relatively unregulated. Money flowed rapidly among nations; it destabilized currencies and caused poverty and widespread social unrest, both factors in the outbreak of the war.

Years later, with victory in sight, the Allied powers turned their attention to preventing this situation from arising again. To this end, they decided that the value of national currencies would no longer be determined by market fluctuations. Instead, they would be tied to the US dollar, the value of which was pegged to US gold reserves, a stabilizing force.

The Allies also agreed that in the future, money would only be allowed to travel overseas in the form of long-term investments. Risky, short-term international investments were strictly prohibited. It was a bold and effective move – but it wasn't to last.

These new international financial regulations worked well for a time. But before long, bankers started exploiting loopholes in the new laws. For example, although the US government oversaw American banks and regulated their loans to ensure stability, it couldn’t interfere with dollars that were stored overseas. As a result, London bankers could do what they liked with the dollars they controlled – the British government simply didn’t care.

This uprooted currency became known as eurodollars, and it could flow among countries just like in the old days. This was the first blow to the stable postwar framework.

Not long afterward, eurodollars were joined by an even more daring financial innovation, known as eurobonds.

These new bonds were different from investments of the past. Through clever planning and artful negotiation with European authorities, bankers gave this new type of investment a whole host of attractive features. For a start, the profits earned on eurobonds were tax-free – but that’s not all.

In the past, institutions that issued bonds had to record the personal details of those buying them. Eurobonds did away with this restriction. In fact, eurobonds weren't tied to individuals at all; issuing institutions simply gave buyers a coupon to be redeemed when the loan’s term had elapsed. This made them enormously appealing to individuals seeking to hide wealth.

This situation was a far cry from the ideals that the Allies had advanced at the end of World War II. Instead of reining in the world of global finance, their new regulations inadvertently ushered in a new, more aggressive market – and money went global as never before.

When money went global, the rich and dishonest saw an unprecedented opportunity to protect and conceal their wealth. Because laws stop at borders but money doesn’t, vast riches can be siphoned off into jurisdictions with financial secrecy and laws favorable to hiding cash. This leaves governments and regulatory bodies with little option but to chase money around the globe.

This video is based on Moneyland book by Oliver Bullough.

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