Hidden offshore wealth exceeds twice the entire US national debt.

Evidence

If big, powerful states want to go after it, they know exactly where to look, which is what they have been doing of late. Indeed, a new study by James Henry of the Tax Justice Network estimates that there is as much as 32 trillion dollars, which is over twice the entire US national debt, hidden away offshore not paying taxes, which makes for a very tempting target indeed. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 658

Categorization

• XREF: Offshore wealth estimates connect to Piketty’s distribution research and to the tax-haven literature in Mattei’s austerity critique.
• SEED: The 32-trillion figure is a vivid, quotable number for an essay on the real fiscal capacity that austerity claims doesn’t exist.