Banks "a conspiracy against the public"

Corporate tax avoidance: Impoverishing the public
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/19/taxavoidance-barclay

Extract from editorial:

But the Guardian's Tax Gap series meticulously documented squillions of pounds in avoidance, establishing beyond doubt that the seepage of revenue was on a scale that constituted a pressing public concern. Fixing the leaks may not save every last swimming pool, but it could make a big difference. Barclays is an iconic case for making the point, seeing as bankers' determination to minimise their contribution to public funds is matched by the lavishness of the benefits they have enjoyed at public expense.

See also:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/series/tax-gap


Adam Smith "a conspiracy against the public"?  See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations

Of Wages and Profit in the Different Employments of Labour and Stock: Smith repeatedly attacks groups of politically aligned individuals who attempt to use their collective influence to manipulate the government into doing their bidding. At the time, these were referred to as "factions," but are now more commonly called "special interests," a term that can comprise international bankers, corporate conglomerations, outright oligopolies, trade unions and other groups. Indeed, Smith had a particular distrust of the tradesman class. He felt that the members of this class, especially acting together within the guilds they want to form, could constitute a power block and manipulate the state into regulating for special interests against the general interest:

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary."^[12]