Don't fence me in....
I once reported for the BBC on the difference between the USA’s regulation of business and the UK’s.
It came down to this: in the States there are very few rules, capitalists can run riot and fill their boots, pay minimal taxes and pay themselves a fortune. It’s the wild west, but if they are caught with their fingers in the till then the sheriff is coming for them. Plain and simple they stole money that wasn’t their’s.
In the UK there are endless rules, legal and accounting; all full of holes and if caught bosses are charged with endlessly complicated fraud charges no ordinary jury can understand.
In both places the rich have endless opportunities to employ top lawyers, private detectives, and “experts” to confuse the issue and muddy the water.
But the failure of the SFO in the UK to convict serious fraudsters is shameful.
Elizabeth Holmes, Enron, Worldcom and Madoff, do you think they would have been convicted in the UK?
I don’t.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.