🎵 She's made up her mind to live pretty smart 🎵 🎵 Learned her budget responsibly right from the start 🎵 🎵 She spends a little less, and puts more into savings 🎵 🎵 Keeps her blood pressure low when credit score raises 🎵 🎵 She's gotten dead right out of her life 🎵 🎵 She tracks her cash -roll on a spreadsheet at night 🎵 Boring money moves make kinda lame songs, but they sound pretty sweet to your wallet.
PNC Bank. Blatantly boring since 1865.
Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify.
They have the tools you need to start and grow your business.
From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need.
There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them.
With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into...
to? Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify .com slash special offer.
What are the world's biggest kleptocracies?
Thanks for asking. You may remember that we've talked about the Economist Intelligence Unit's democracy index in the past on Do You Really Know, which assigns each of the world's countries a score from one to ten based on how democratic they are.
But have you ever heard of a kleptocracy?
It's a phenomenon that can creep into democracies and drag down their scores.
Is the klepto part similar to kleptomania?
Exactly. The word comes from the Ancient Greek kleptos, meaning theft, and kratos, meaning power.
So it literally means rule by thieves.
A kleptocracy is a political system where corruption and money laundering are rampant.
Public funds are often siphoned off and hidden in tax havens, with the families and inner circles of those in power frequently benefiting from these large scale thefts.
The term is often used to describe countries whose economies depend heavily on natural resources like precious stones, oil or gas.
So where does this happen?
Kleptocracy is commonly associated with countries in Africa and Eastern Europe, as well as former Soviet states.
For example, in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been accused of using public contracts and EU funds to enrich his allies.
A well -known example is Libya under Muammar Gaddafi.
After seizing power in a 1969 coup, Gaddafi controlled vast financial resources as Libya was a member of OPEC.
He used the country's wealth to fund his own opulent lifestyle and enrich his family while also supporting armed groups and militias abroad.
Under his regime the press was banned and there were no independent oversight bodies, allowing government corruption to go unchecked.
Other notable kleptocrats include Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and Zina El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia.
Are Western democracies immune to all this?
Not entirely. In 2021, journalist Casey Michelle exposed the rise of large -scale tax evasion in the United States, releasing a book entitled American Kleptocracy.
He argued that the 2016 election of Donald Trump significantly advanced the interests of billionaires.
Michelle paints a grim picture of kleptocracy, describing it as capitalism at its worst. There you have it.
Now you know what a kleptocracy is.
In under three minutes we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines.
Listen along and you will really know for sure.
