The Paradise Papers have revealed yet again that not only do we live in an incredibly unequal society, but that the super-rich are extremely talented at hiding their wealth.
After this latest batch of documents were released to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, who shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, we got another look into how the rich keep their money offshore.
There’s been a huge number of embarrassing stories from Bono buying a shopping centre in Lithuania to the Queen holding funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
And the total amount of money involved is mind-boggling. According to the Boston Consulting Group, there’s around $10 trillion held in these offshore financial centres.
So based on rough estimates and Google’s online calculator, we had a look at what else you could buy for that amount of cash:
1.The whole of the UK four times
($2.5 trillion)
2.Real Madrid football club 2,739 times
($3.65 billion)
3.6,000 Alan Sugars
($1.6 billion)
4.This many iPhone Xs: 8,703,220,191
($1,149)
5.Twitter 600 times
($15 billion)
6.90 International Space Stations
($110 billion)
7.Four trillion life-saving mosquito nets to prevent malaria
($2.50)
8.Around 300,000 new UK schools
(Average £30 million)
9.More than 6,000 Burj Khalifas in Dubai – the tallest building in the world
($1.5 billion)
10.14,285,714 flats in London
(Average price of £534,469 / $700,000)
11.117,647,058,824 wool berets
($85)
12.More than two million of the dress Marilyn Monroe was wearing when she sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. President"
($4.8 million)
13.The HMS Queen Elizabeth 2,500 times
($4 billion)
14.And most importantly, one trillion courgetti spiralizers
($10)
(Images: iStock / Rex)
