Panama Papers and Bernie

Amy Goodman is excited these days by the release of the Panama Papers. About 1.5 million papers were leaked to a German newspaper by an unknown source in Panama. What these papers show, I think, is that many famous world leaders and their surrogates have sent their riches in secret to Panama to avoid taxes.

Goodman also played a tape of Bernie Sanders speaking in 2011, when a treaty with Panama was passed to set all this tax evasion up. Sanders pointed out that the hidden purpose of the Panama treaty was to legalize tax fraud. He voted against it. Here's the thing. Sanders might have good judgment. He also voted against the Iraq war. What Sanders does not have is the backing of the Democratic establishment and its treaty writers.