変化球に弱い

下記動画の冒頭を聞き取ってみてください。

Pandor PapersでSouth Dakota州が注目を浴びました。カリブ諸島が租税回避地として有名ですが、まさか米国内にあったのかという驚きとともに受け止められているのです。Offshoreではなくonshoreだと言っています。

Foreign money secretly floods U.S. tax havens. Some of it is tainted.

By Debbie Cenziper, Will Fitzgibbon and Salwan Georges  Oct. 4, 2021

その冒頭の単語はDataだったんですよね。アンカーは「ダータ」と発音していたので聞き取れませんでした。。。

Data gathered by a team of journalists from all over the world indicates hundreds of millions dollars from offshore accounts of Caribean and Europe are now being funneled through South Dakota. 

この州にあるTrust account全てが違法行為を働いているわけではないのですが、遵法意識が希薄な政治カルチャーを指摘しているのが下記の記事です。

South Dakotans loved our state’s bank laws. But now the downside is clear.

How a small state with a tradition of secrecy became the next Cayman Islands

By Patrick Lalley October 7, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

These ethical lapses were revealed by reporters — not through practical access to public information, which the state makes harder to get than most others, but from other sources and means. In these cases, and in hundreds of smaller examples every day, the response that journalists in South Dakota get to requests for information is, “Why do you want to know?”

It’s nearly 250 miles from Sioux Falls to the state capital of Pierre, a government town of 14,000 people. In the deep, dark winter of the legislative session in January and February, there’s little supervision.

Nearly every day, there are dinners and social events hosted by interest groups. South Dakota doesn’t have any restrictions on lobbyists entertaining lawmakers with dinner and drinks. So entertain they do.

It may be unfair to draw a direct line between dirty money abroad and the trust accounts in South Dakota. But it’s not at all unfair to say this: There is a direct line between South Dakota’s lack of ethical standards for public officials and the unintended consequences that allow money to find shelter here in the first place.

メディアを見るとほとんどが初めて聞いたような反応でしたが、2016年や2019年には主要メディアで取り上げられていました。大きなスキャンダルなどが絡まないと注目を集めないものなんですね。

The great American tax haven: why the super-rich love South Dakota

It’s known for being the home of Mount Rushmore – and not much else. But thanks to its relish for deregulation, the state is fast becoming the most profitable place for the mega-wealthy to park their billions.

by Oliver Bullough Thu 14 Nov 2019 06.00 GMT

先ほどの記事で紹介されていたサウスダコタ州のtrust industryが繁盛していることを伝えるプロモーション記事です。

Growth of South Dakota’s trust industry continues to accelerate

By Andrea Van Essen, for SiouxFalls.Business

At the time the pandemic was declared in March 2020, IRA Financial Group totaled 11 employees. One year later, the Sioux Falls office has grown to a staff of 26 and continues to hire.

“I’ve been committed to growing in the state,” said Adam Bergman, founder and CEO of the South Dakota-chartered trust company that administers retirement accounts – self-directed IRAs and solo 401(k)s.

“I’m proud of the fact that we’ve tried to do the right thing and said, ‘You know what, we’re going to be a South Dakota trust company, but we’re also going to be a part of the community, support the community, and do it the right way.’ ”

主要産業のない貧しい州が産業を見つけようとしたのでしょうけど、州全体に貢献しているわけではないようです。」