Hey what's going on it's your man Kory, welcome to The Digital Dash where I be giving you tips on how to market your songs and get those numbers booming. Now today what I want to talk with you about is a really toxic mindset that I've noticed that some artists have. Now it's not all artists but it's enough artists that I feel like I need to make a video to address it and if you are someone that thinks this way, if it's someone that really has this mindset you really think this way. This video convinces you to think differently so you can start to advance so you can start to move on. But before we get into all of that come and follow me on Instagram, I make sure to put my ad name on the screen, come talk to me, come engage with me, come give me some video ideas, all of that good stuff. Now with that being said let's get right into it. So I'm sure you're thinking Kory, what are you talking about?  And that mindset is that marketing is cheating. Now what inspired this video was pretty much a comment that was left underneath one of my ads on Instagram. The comment says something along the lines of like, as an artist you should just be able to put your music out and the cream should rise to the top. Something like that, not those exact words, but pretty much the sentiments were that an artist should be able to just put their music out and any artist that actively works to promote his or her music is in fact cheating the game and cheating the system. And it sounds crazy, it sounds wild. But that's not the first time that I've heard an artist say those exact things. That's not the first time that I've talked to an artist, spoken to an artist, or in some way shape and form seeing artists coming and going the fact that those who are promoting their music, they feel like they're cheating, like they're not doing it the right way, the fair way.  Now the first reason why this is a crazy idea is that businesses need to market and you may be wondering what does that have to do with you as an artist. Now me and Sean preach on this channel all the time that artists are no different than businesses. You're no different than a McDonald's, you're no different than a Home Depot, you're no different than the Starbucks. You should be operating your career, your artistry, just like a CEO will run their business. And with that being said, there is no business in the history of successful business that has been able to make it without letting the world know that they exist because that's pretty much what marketing is doing. You are letting your potential customer base know that you or your product exists so they can make the conscious effort to come and buy or interact or partake in whatever it is that you're pushing to them. And we all know that no business can survive without a customer base and if you're not doing anything to pull in new fans or potential supporters then your business will start to grow stagnant, you will not be able to progress and you will not be able to grow as an artist or as a business. Now the second reason on why you shouldn't feel like marketing is cheating is that major artists market. Major label artists, all of those top artists who are dominating the charts right now all think of creative marketing plans for their project to get themselves in front of their fan base and new potential fans. And the best example I can think of right now is if you remember earlier this year, earlier this year of 2019 to be making this video, DJ Khaled and Todd the Creator had a small beef over Todd the Creator's album outselling DJ Khaled. Now the reason that DJ Khaled was so upset is that he spent, think the number he said was 5 million to make and promote his album, The Father of a Side. Now I'm sure a large part of that budget went into buying the features and paying for the instrumentals that were on the project but I'm still willing to bet that he spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars marketing that album doing different ads and sponsorship deals and things that he could do to get the album out there. Now I say this to say, if the major artists are dominating this space right and then you have the artists who are here who may not be major artists yet, they're not superstars but they're rising and then you have the artists that are trying to break into the military. If all of those artists understand that marketing is an essential tool to growing themselves out, what would make you the artist who has yet to break into those tears feel like you don't need to do the same thing in order to keep going to the next level. And another personal example I can give or pseudo personal example is a few months ago I was working on an influencer campaign for a client. I reached out to this influencer, we talk about the campaign, the details, the payment, all that stuff. And then he ghosted me for about three or four days. Just don't hear back from him, he doesn't respond to my texts, he doesn't respond to my emails. Out the blue he calls me, he gives me the whole, yo bro, my bad man, we were working on an influencer campaign for Chris Brown and Drake. Chris Brown and Drake have this new song coming out and it's the single they have going right now. I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head but whatever song they have on the radio right now, it was for that song.  And the influencers manager told me that they probably would have done it for Drake for free but Drake respected their business enough to just treat it as a private marketing plan and pay them the way they should be paid. And that made me think like man, if Drake and Chris Brown, two of the biggest artists in the world, two arguably two of the biggest artists ever, have to sit down and figure out marketing plans to get themselves out. Why would any other artists feel differently? And the third reason why you, the artist should never feel like marketing is cheating is that you need a way to stand above the noise because there's a lot of noise in the music industry. Now it was reported earlier this year, I think April, April of 2019, Daniel Eck, the creator of Spotify reported that there are about 40,000 uploads to Spotify every single day. So every single day, 40,000 artists put their music on to Spotify. That is not including any additional promo that they're doing to reach their targeted fan base and new fans. And just another statistic to throw out there is, I think it's reported that the average person sees about 5,000 ads a day. So I say this to say again, there is a lot of noise in the music industry and there's a lot of noise within music in general. Meaning that if you do not have a game plan on how to cut through this noise so that people can find you, then you're essentially setting yourself up to not even be discovered and giving a chance to compete with these artists that are out here. And kind of going back to my point about the major artists who market as well, right? They also generate a lot of noise. They generate a lot of noise because they dominate most of the major outlet. And in the end, that is who you are competing against. You are competing against Drake. You are competing against Rihanna. You are competing against Kota the Fran. You are competing against your friend who makes music down the street. And you are also competing against their Coca-Cola ad, their Snapchat ad, their Facebook ad that's trying to sell me cologne or stickers or something. This is your competition. This is what you are trying to pull my attention away from to come and listen to your music. And without a strong marketing and content plan to overcome all of this, you will simply get buried underneath the noise. No one will listen to your music and you will be disappointed. That's the best way to put it. So there you have it. Those are my three reasons on why if you are an artist who feels like marketing is cheating for whatever reason, please don't rewind this video if you need to rewatch them again and stop thinking that way. Because remember, there is a lot of noise in the music industry. And at the end of the day, you are competing with these bigger artists who make a lot of noise and you're competing with consumers' attention spans, which is very finite, very limited, and it's already been competed for by a lot of outside source. And if you are an artist who has not even given themselves a fair chance of having that art expressed and seen and possibly liked, I don't know what to tell you, man. It's just a completely wrong way of thinking. Please get out of that mindset. Now, would love to hear what you think on this topic. Do you agree with that comment underneath my post? Should your artist not have to market their music? Should you just be able to drop it and let it speak for itself? Or am I right? And you will pretty much be doing yourself a disservice by not marketing your music and not trying to cut above the noise. Let me know what you think in the comment section below or on Instagram, on Twitter, wherever you feel like it. And as always, if you feel like you learned anything today, please like and share this video. Hit those post notifications as well as I wouldn't want you to miss anything. And as always, my name is Corey and I'll see you next time.


Well, the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade has come and gone and we have weather storm. It's looking pretty positive I think that Ethereum has a lot of room to run all the way up to three thousand dollars. We'll take a look at why Especially since everybody agrees that inflation is now dead and what I'm talking about is there is a great website I'll link in the description. It is token done unlocks dot app and today We're looking at April 13th and we can just see how much Ethereum has actually been unlocked Since the Shanghai upgrade has come into play now This allows for people who have staked Ethereum all the way back in late 2020 to unlock their Ethereum and do whatever they Want to do with it now I need to make something crystal clear just because you are unlocking and transferring your Ethereum Does not mean that people are selling a lot of people would like to put their Ethereum into cold storage They want to know exactly where it is and have control over it after losing control Essentially for two years and locking it up So that doesn't mean things are being sold and the price action is actually looking pretty good The thing that is interesting me and of course on this website You can see just how much is the total pending withdraw the total amount that it has been confirmed or changed It's as to withdraw the estimated withdrawal. This is to use in the next 11 hours You're looking at 68,000 and we can just see that the total pending withdraw So far has been around two billion dollars again that hasn't all been sold I'm sure but maybe there has been people who have sold it What is interesting to me is the net staking balance? This is how much has been withdrawn over the time since the Shanghai hard work We're looking at two hundred and ten thousand Ethereum has been withdrawn in that same time You've almost seen a hundred thousand deposit. What does that mean? That means that people have a lot of confidence in Ethereum And if you have a staking balance of just around a hundred sixteen thousand negative That's a pretty good time frame for what has been going on. And what does that mean? Well, I mean the theorem actually went up in price of five percent and has now breached two thousand dollars. So Where do we go from here? It's anybody's guess, but there was a Great data point for on-chain analysis and it takes a look at the average price distribution of each state Who is in money who is not and you can just see that the people that have withdrawn so far the 20 For all that's a theorem that has gone out Right now the amount of ETH of when people actually Deposited that into the beacon chain again in late 2020 you're looking at a price of around between I mean from that that first time frame from three thousand three hundred is a pretty large amount of ETH almost around 120 million worth of it and The next price target is three five hundred. What does that mean? That means me personally if I don't hit these numbers I'm not a big fan of selling for a loss So maybe it might be hooves somebody to just wait for that price So that's why I think we have a little ways to run before the Ethereum price maxes out Now it's anybody's guess what's gonna happen in the next day week months ahead I know that the Fed has already talked about a pending soft recession But for me, I see this is very positive news for Ethereum holders and I will continue from Delacost average for quite some time That is what I am doing not financial advice Speaking of which if you would like to get a little bit more depth and insights It was me guy from Coin Bureau and Ben from the cryptiverse We went a little deeper into the Yixing high Bitcoin cash rate in US and Asia markets I will link that video in the description. You can check it out a lot of good information great stuff, so That is the first part for Ethereum. Now, let's take a look at his inflation dead. This is Steve Anki and He is an economist professor at John Hopkins University. He was on the David Lin report fantastic channel I definitely recommend you check that out and he is pretty much has been saying that inflation is on death's door And this is pretty much been confirmed and just take a quick Overview of what he said I will link this video description so you can watch it But basically what he says is this which is the same thing that Milton Friedman said Nobel Prize-winning economist. He said look Inflation we've talked about this channel many times is just it's a consequence of the M2 money supply or just money supply People printing money right treasury does that We got a lot of money in circulation and what happens we have high inflation and what he took a look at It wasn't the billions of dollars because we can see that over here when we've been printing like crazy here in the States We love to do that But what they took a look at is it wasn't the billions of dollars It was the percent change from one year ago and you can see just from this graph that yes We have actually gone down from a year ago now We are still pretty high from what we used to do but yes Inflation is going down because guess what surprise surprise We have less money in circulation as they take it out as they do a little bit of what called Fed tightening or quantitative tightening Also took a look at the bank credit for all commercial banks. We can see that yes It is massively high banks doing what banks do better reserve lending But if we just take a look again of what mr. Hankey was talking about percent change from one year ago Yes, it is down as well, but it's still high in billions of dollars. So that is just the one aspect Also, we know that if we take a look at This is from true flation and what they use as they use chain link, which is an oracle which pulls in data Real-time data and they've been saying for a long time that Inflation in America is actually going quite is down quite precipitously and we're gonna see that Over here. We pretty much hit our peak at almost 12% on June 18 2022 and just been plummeting ever since Now it's time for the Fed to catch up So that is just that part on top of the fact that we just got the producer price index data in and The producer price in an index is the precursor for consumer price index PPI is a selling price received by domestic producers for their output and guess what? PPI is in decline half a percent in March goods fall 1% services decreased by 0.3% this is actually echoed by Jim Bianco great Analyst Ray talks again on Bloomberg that look We've got these these rates Inflation is going down. The real question is not so much about the rates themselves But how long will the Fed continue higher for longer? He didn't say anybody cuts. It's pretty interesting I will link this video also in the description. It's a very quick about a minute or so, but he's like he agrees essentially With hanky that's a yes inflation is knocking on death's door. Is that true? Well time time will tell but I think there's a lot of good positive aspects and maybe 2024 could be a pretty good year and then also just to To finish up a couple of notes of news that's happened Twitter Oh my you on musk just partner with eToro now if you see this headline you think yourself Well, that's pretty big Rob. Well in actuality. No, it is not What this is going to allow starting Thursday at day a new feature will be rolled on the Twitter app It will allow users to view market charts on an expanded range of financial instruments and buy and sell stocks and other assets from eToro, ooh And the statement is you'll be able to click a button that says a view on eToro Which takes you through the eToro site and then buy and sell assets on his platform.  I'm not saying that's wrong. We're saying that's what it is But I know some people are gonna talk about this and go that is the greatest story of all time I don't really see it pushing adoption anywhere further. It's just going to funnel people to eToro Let me know where I'm wrong, but I think they could have done better on that one and then lastly This is interesting actually Solana is putting out their new Solana phone and I had signed up for this to get notifications I put a deposit down now. It's for $1,000 one thing to note about this this web 3 phone It's built on Android Android 13 and I'm curious to see how this actually works and how it's better than any Android phone out there I'm really curious to see if this is gonna be something marvelous or just a massive dud So I will probably look into that and probably might pick it up and see what it's all about But that is it for the news and lastly I want to just share with you There was an interview that I did this is with Tyler spalling no Tyler spaulding He is the founder of amp the cryptocurrency and then flexa for payments processing and ampera and These three products combined. I think they're gonna change a lot of different things now Tyler Interesting guy. He is of course the founder. He was also MIT alum He's also helped with NASA and the Mars Mars mission and he's also a whiskey maximalist So smart guy smart information and I'm gonna have you take a listen to what these three things are and How things are progressing and then we'll come back. Just take a listen. This interview is about nine minutes Thanks for having me Yeah, I'd love to talk about those things pretty much any time. So like So, yeah, currently I'm exclusively focused on and para which is a new collateral protocol that will be Hopefully people have used or will be launching some of the other features soon Flexa is the largest digital payments network pure digital payments network in the world The lots of people are now using to Spend crypto in real life at real, you know large stores all around the US and other countries and so Amp is a token that's used as collateral within the flexa network and that's really a way just to allow the network to work without any sort of risk and there's a real That's an in payments having a payment actually go through depending on where it's coming from all the conditions of clearing it is So much more complicated than anyone will even care to understand or if right frankly, you don't want to understand and so making a payment there's so much risk involved in that and so Flexa the team behind that as you know decades of experience in payments understood some of the real complexities around How you would integrate within a point of sale? What other sort of assets then could be used? How do you? Sort of make this seamless with the existing hardware and software no changes nothing else new for a merchant Right. Otherwise, it's just not going to work. It needs to be table stakes of straightforward as absolutely easy as possible. And so that's what flexa is basically Delivered and we've been so incredibly proud of how that has worked and then now on the emperor side In understanding how to expand You know payments digital payments and even more generally a payment or sort of a digital transaction more broadly We created and para which like I now exclusively focus on as a separate organization A new foundation set up building a defied primitive from the ground up That's just really really simple around how you can lock collateral and create letters of credit But then you can use in any sort of transaction and we would hope that in the future Flexo would start using that as well as a way to now grow their network even faster than before Because it's something we think that is so powerful As just you know a separate protocol That's more extensible to different types of apps and smart contracts and you know having so many more wide uses Making payments better and then anything else that sort of related as well Gotcha, so then just real quick. So flexa I'd like this app because I have to pay transaction fees Stripe PayPal where we want to use you're looking at between 1.9 and 2.9 8% plus 30 cents for transaction fee So you can use something like this where it integrates a bunch of different cryptos And then they can just pick the plethora of ones that they want to use Put it into the payment and I get paid and whatever I want to be paid in So I I like this whole part. I like amp. I like emperor, but I really should ask the big question Which is this Tyler? Who are you besides the co-founder of flexa? Where do you come from and why are you a whiskey maximum list? Which I do I got to tell you I appreciate that on your bio Yes, I'm actually not a bear is I guess many people Often suspect I I just love bears all the different types of them You know even just being able to visit and seeing them now in nature That's just a totally side passion that other people ever want to talk about completely game for but that's where that actually comes from It is more meaningful but no, I'm just I've been a technologist now since Well, I started my first company an e-commerce company in 1996 Then yeah, yeah, right. It's came and really think about how long ago that was then another CMS Company back-end technologies for e-commerce started that company Worked is a hardware engineers. That was a kind of a aerospace engineer by training. So I worked at NASA for a few years on the space shuttle program Worked on the Mars crew module. I worked the United Space Alliance I worked for all different sorts of entities around just building really really really cool Knowledge of vehicles and other products then for you know space exploration transportation that I'm super super passionate about Then built a couple of other software companies In personalization relevance engines then in payments and just kind of keep going with that and and now I got in crypto Early 2011 so and have never never left in fact have doubled down and quadrupled down in terms of time money building Everything since the very beginning and I realized that how significant this technology could start to become and so in working now to build out flexa Yeah, a large digital payments network and now into Impair a sort of a more generalized protocol to enable, you know products like flexa and then hopefully considerably more beyond and then I Really love whiskey In terms of just all of the various articles I don't know why but it's really the only one that I like and so that is just I have to be very straightforward I don't drink wine or beer or Any other types of spirits, but I will talk to you probably for days About whiskey should anyone care? I've been to probably maybe the top 75 80 distilleries globally Been there who are there have you know exclusive bottles from there been a collector for more than 20 years So I have more than a thousand bottles of whiskey It's yeah, it's I would say it's a passion a lot of people, you know, my wife calls it a problem But that's it's always a matter of interpretation right like perspective That's exactly right. You son actually son just let my brother is a big whiskey drinker himself So so tell it just real quick so because I know you're a busy guy to get out of here But there's been a couple questions of course when I I said I was gonna interview you I got a bombard Platter of a question Here's one from an imp dude When big box retailers when big banks want anything and then also there's one does a couple from Danny D When's the white paper for Tampere and they're gonna do testing. So what can they expect? So just a couple questions for you before we get out of here Sure the to the first one it's something that again, you know the large a large merchants or the players will be able to dictate their schedules and how they're participating in this greater ecosystem. I think a lot of 2022 is very challenging as I think anyone could Appreciate of what had gone on in terms of some of the clarity or the enthusiasm or just how things be really meaningful to a business Where you look at certain assets that maybe didn't survive right that might have been very interesting as a payment asset, right? so all of that sort of Dust is starting to settle I think in terms of not only like legal clarity But then how some of the stuff can be used and where some of the benefits can really be realized So is absolutely impossible with a timeline, but it is one of those things That's getting more and more inevitable in my opinion that these merchants will be starting to accept these sorts of payments natively Much sooner than I think people expect You know and I and I also hope that flexa is a major part of that going forward and that's what flexa has built and has been working with Large merchants from the very beginning to facilitate that and you know I still believe that's the best product out there by a very very large market and working closely with merchants to deliver that so So yeah, that's one of those things that's just so hard to really you know You know put any sort of a timeline to because it's you know, not just one entity, but It sure does look very interesting and promising I would say gotcha And then I guess those other questions on Impair a white paper product testing That is all I'd say everything is probably 80 to 90 percent done All the smart contracts have been done, but now you're in the phase of You know full full auditing getting other people to really hammer on things making sure it's Again, we care so much about the security of the assets. I'm not losing anything and so and the functionality It's so critical So we're going to all this testing and then when it's now ready for you know public to be used We'll put everything out there. So the white paper will be in conjunction with that. We don't want to be this All these things could potentially come someday, right? We really want to put it all out together Here's exactly how it all worked. Here's all the information all open source and really kind of put everything as the package Rather than trying to lead into and insinuate various things. We're like, no, this is this is it's a real functional thing All live people can use that and like that's what we're we're looking towards Yeah, all right. Well, that was a great summary. Thank you so much So like what we're gonna do is that we had a discussion beforehand and I'll be releasing little little pieces of that a lot of Great info behind the scenes. So Tyler again, thanks for coming on the show We appreciate just to understand what you know amp flex an amp or actually is so we'll see you see you back here soon. Hopefully Fantastic. Thanks for having me All right. So Tyler. Thanks for stopping by. I do appreciate it was very interesting And I will just tell you guys some information, which is this me and Tyler talks for about an hour Before that interview fascinating stuff. So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to slowly release those clips The things that me and Tyler have talked about and it was everything as far as maximalism with Bitcoin is going Why they chose Ethereum some other important piece of information that I just couldn't squeeze in and I'm just gonna just clip those out That's pretty interesting. I think it's a product to watch now Is that the product for you to buy and sell your house and kidneys and kids to get into? No It's not a saying saying it's very interesting Maybe you should do some more research on it and check to see if it's something for you But that's it for today. So look, thanks so much for stopping by. I appreciate it like this video Give it a thumbs up like and subscribe again. This is not a sudden and forget a type of market You really should be up to date with what's going on. So consider subscribing might help you out Thanks so much for stopping by. I do appreciate you and I'll see you on the next one


The Columbia network takes pleasure in bringing you suspense, suspense. Columbia's parade of outstanding thrillers produced by William Spear and scored by Bernard Herman. Notable melodramas from stage and screen, fiction and radio presented each week to bring you to the edge of your chair to keep you in suspense. Tonight's story by the noted American author T.S. Stribbling deals with a crime of murder on an exotic and atmospheric island with ragged beggars who slept in a Hindu temple and awoke with gold in their pockets and a dead girl lying near them and with a strange and mystical entrance into the life of hereafter, which was the experience of an American psychologist. For your suspense for listening, we invite you to join us for a passage to Benares. In Porto, Spain, in Trinidad, at half past five in the morning, Mr. Henry Poggioli, an American psychologist, stirred uneasily, became conscious of a splitting headache, opened his eyes in bewilderment, and then, with a shock, saw where he was. He got up, arranged his clothing.  By seven o'clock, he'd found his way back to the house of Mr. Low, his host in Porto, Spain. Low was already about his coffee with an interested spoon poised above the morning paper. Ah, there you are. Good morning, Poggioli. I say you are quiet. Didn't hear you get up at all. Have some breakfast? Oh, thanks. I, uh, been out for a breath of air. What's the news today? Well, the new governor will arrive in Trinidad on the 12th, and, uh, hello. Another native's killed his wife. Tell me, Poggioli, as a psychologist, why do coolies kill their wives? Oh, for various reasons, I imagine. But there's some of the facts. Ah, I say this is a coincidence. Really putting on a show for you, Poggioli, on your first visit to Trinidad. How so?  The temple? Well, of course, the cream-colored little bride with the breastplates and the linked gold coins and the anklets and all the finery and the bridegroom. Would you say his name was Buudman Lal? Yes. Well, do you know what's happened?  Do they think he did it? No doubt of it. That's why he's in jail now. He always seemed like a sensible fellow, too. One of our best patrons, which only proves my contention, Poggioli. A bridegroom of only six or eight hours killing his wife without any reason at all. Oh, there's usually some reason for murder. Maybe. But I say, oh boy, you're missing the point completely. How?  Wanted to, you know, remember?  Remember? Yes, I remember. You said it simply isn't done. Well, if you had, Poggioli, I say, that would have been a pretty kettle, wouldn't it? Yes. Yes. Well, I'm afraid I'll be mixed up in this. Both Mr. Lowell and his uncle, Hyrodas, are clients of mine. Old Hyrodas is upwards of five million dollars in my bank. Hyrodas? Didn't you tell me he built that temple where the murder took place? Yes. It's what the Hindus call a temple and rest house. Hyrodas gives rice and tea to any traveler who comes in for the night. It's an Indian custom to help mendicant pilgrims.  Ah. What does it say there about the murder, though? Um, Boudman Lowell, nephew of the famous Mr. Hyrodas, was arrested early this morning at his home for the alleged murder of his wife whom he married yesterday. The body was found at six o'clock this morning in the temple where the wedding ceremony took place. The temple tendons gave the alarm. The victim's head was severed completely from her body and all her jewelry was gone. Five Cooley beggars who were asleep in the temple when the body was discovered were arrested.  Mr. Boudman Lowell and his wife were seen to enter the temple at about eleven last night for the Hindu right of purification. Mr. Lowell, who is a prominent curio dealer, declines to say anything further. Doesn't tell you very much, does it? Ah, not much. What do you make of those beggars? Oh, that's simple enough. Those devils laid in wait inside the temple until the husband went out and left his wife. Then they murdered her and divided the spoil. Ah, but she had enough bangles and G-jaws to give a dozen to each man. Yes, yes. You're quite right, Boudjoly. That's a fact. Why should they continue sleeping in the temple after they'd killed her if they did murder her? Well, why shouldn't they? They knew they'd be suspected, and they couldn't get off the island without capture, so they thought they might as well lie down again and go back to sleep. Hmm. You may be right, Lowell, but that doesn't look like the solution to me. Well, I'm satisfied that's how it occurred. You mean the beggars killed her? Well, I don't think so. I rather fancy that the actual murderer took the girl's jewelry and went about the temple thrusting a bangle and a coin in the pockets of each of the sleeping beggars to lay a false scent. Oh, come on. That's laying it on a bit too thick, Boudjoly. My dear Lowell, that's the only possible explanation for the coins in the beggars' pockets. I tell you, boy, you've had lots of experience in these things. Come along with me, and we'll go up and see Mr. Hyred does and see if we can't help his nephew. I'll be glad to, but we'll go to the temple first. Then we'll call on Mr. Hyredus. Well, here we are. Despite of the police guard at the door, the temple doesn't look sinister in the daylight. Oh, it just looks dirty. Let's go in and question the beggars. Excuse me. Did any of you fellows hear noises in this temple last night? Oh, much sleep, Sire. No noise. Policeman Pancho's wake this morning makes it still here. What's your name? Muda Chan, Sire. When did you go to sleep last night? When I ate rice and tea, Sire. Do you remember seeing Boudman Lal and his wife enter this building last night? Yes, remember, Sire. Did you see them go out? No, Sire. No one remember go out. You were all asleep then, huh? All asleep, Sire. Did you have any dreams during your sleep? Hear any noises? I dream bad dreams, Sire. When Policeman Pancho's wake this morning, I think dreams come true. And me, Sire. Me, too. Me. Did you all have bad dreams? Yes, all have bad dreams. Look here, Pajali. I don't see where this is getting us. I do think we ought to be getting on to old Haridasa's house. Oh, I think we can now entirely discard the theory that the beggars murdered the girls. Oh, what grounds? They told you nothing, except that they all had bad dreams. For a reason. They all had wild, fantastic dreams. That suggests that they were given some sort of opiate in their rice or tea last night.  That's a fact, but I don't believe that Trinidad Court would admit such evidence. We're not looking for legal evidence. We're after some indication of the real criminal. Now I suggest that we get on to the house of Haridasa. Please come in, gentlemen. I've been expecting you. Please be seated. Thank you. Most mysterious murder in the life of my poor nephew will depend upon your exertions, gentlemen. Tell me, what do you think of the beggars that were found in the temple with the bangers and coins? Well, I'm afraid my judgment of the beggars will disappoint you, Mr. Haridasa. My theory is that they're innocent of the crime. Really? Why do you say that? Because they told me of dreams they had. All their dreams were very nearly identical. You are not English, sir. No Englishman would have thought of that. No, I'm American with a backlash sprinkling of Italian. My name's Pugioly. What is your profession, Mr. Pugioly?  No, Mr. Das. I'm a psychologist. You are sorely at least groping after knowledge. However, it gropes as a blind worm, Mr. Pugioly, and we must find the criminal who committed this crime and thus restore my nephew, Budhman Lal, to liberty. You can imagine what a blow this has been to me after I arranged this marriage for my nephew. You did arrange the marriage for a nephew who was in his 30s? Yes, Mr. Pugioly. I wanted him to avoid the pitfalls into which I fell. He was unmarried and he'd already begun to add dollars to dollars. I did the same thing. Now look at me. An empty old man in a foreign land. What good is this house where men of my own kind can't come and sit with me when I have no grandchildren to romp and play? No. I've piled up dollars and pounds. I've eaten the world, Mr. Pugioly, and found it bitter. Now here I am, an outcast.  Why, Mr. Pugioly, my mind is half English. If I should return to Benares, I'd walk about thinking what the temples cost. How much was the value of the stone set in the eye of Krishna's image? If I would ever be one with my own people again, Mr. Pugioly, I must leave this western mind and body here, in Trinidad. That's very interesting and moving, but we were discussing your nephew, Boudman Lal. Wait. In searching for the criminal, I would suggest you look for a moneyed man. Let me tell you my suspicions and you can work out the details. What are they? I went out of the temple this morning to have the body of my poor murdered niece brought here to my villa for burial.  Was there indeed? Yes, Mr. Low, a white man. Yes, Mr. Low. All five of the coolies and my man, Gupta, told me it was true. But, Mr. Hyredas, decapitation is not an American mode of murder. America? I was speaking generally. I mean a white man's method of murder. That is indicative in itself. I meant to call your attention to that point.  So he was enabled to give the crime an extraordinary resemblance to a Hindu crime. But what motive could a white man have? Possibly robbery, Mr. Pojole. Or if he were a very intellectual man, he might have murdered the poor child by way of experiment. A murder for experiment? Yes, Mr. Low, to record this psychological reaction. Why, I can't entertain such a stereo as that, Mr. Hyredas. Oh, no, it is too far-fetched. However, it is worth investigating, is it not? Yes, yes, but I'll begin my investigations with the man, Gupta. By all means, Mr. Pojole. And in your investigations, gentlemen, hire any assistance you may need. Draw on me for any amount. I want my nephew exonerated, and above all things, I want the real criminal apprehended and brought to the gallows. Oh, what do you think of that, Pojole? White man in that temple. Ah, sounds like pure fiction to me, to shield Boban Low. You know, these fellows hang together like thieves. Say it's a jolly good thing we didn't decide to sleep in the temple last night, isn't it? You know, in my opinion, Low, the actual criminal is Boudman Low. Ah, same here. I thought so ever since I first saw the account on the paper. Somehow these fellows will chop their wives to pieces for no reason at all. Well, what do you know about Boudman Low? Well, he was born here, and Zoro has been a figure because of his rich uncle. He lived here all his life? Uh-huh. Except when he was an oxford for six years. Oh, he's an oxford man, eh? Yes, yes. Ah, there you are. That's the trouble. I don't understand. What do you mean, Pojole? Well, no doubt he fell in love with some English girl, but when Lord Hyra Das chose a Hindu child for his wife, Boudman couldn't refuse marriage. No man's going to quarrel with a five million dollar legacy. Then he chose this ghastly method of getting rid of the child bride. Eh, I dare say you're right. I feel sure Boudman Low killed the girl. And Jones, I'm getting tired of walking. There's a cab. Let's hop in and ride the rest of the way. Hi, cabby! A cab! I see, always. Well, aren't you coming? You know, I don't feel that I can conscientiously continue this investigation trying to clear a person whom I have every reason to believe guilty. Well, man, don't leave me like this. At least come as far as police headquarters with me and explain your theory about Guka, the templekeeper and the rights. Well, I thought I'd go back to your cottage and pack my things. Pack your things? Oh, your boat doesn't sail until Friday? Yes, I know, but there's a daily service to cure us, so it struck me to go there. Oh, no. Come, you can't run off like that just when I've stirred up an interesting murder mystery for you to unravel. Why? Well, Jolie, you ought to appreciate my effort as a host more than that. Well, all right, then. To the police station. Yes, sir. Chief figures, this is my friend, Mr. Porgioli. Mr. Porgioli, Mr. Vickers is Chief of Trinidad's police force. How do you know? How do you do? Chief Vickers, I've asked Mr. Porgioli's counsel in the Budmunlal murder case. And he's already developed a theory as to who is the actual murderer of Mrs. Budmunlal. So have I. Now, in this matter, Chief Vickers, I want to be perfectly frank with you. I'll admit we're in this case and the employer of Mr. Hyrodas and are making an effort to clear his nephew, Budmunlal. We felt confident you'd use the skill of the police department of Port of Spain to work out a theory clearing Budmunlal, just as readily as you would to convict him. A department usually devotes time to conviction and not to clearing criminals. Yes, yes, I know that. But if our theory will point out the actual murderer... What is your theory? Mr. Porgioli's deduction is based on the dreams of the men who were found in the temple. So Mr. Porgioli's deduction is based on dreams. It would be a remarkable coincidence, Mr. Becker, if five men had lurid dreams simultaneously without some physical cause. It suggests strongly that their tea or rice was doped. Now, if you find out what's operific was used, then have your men search the sales record of the drug stores in the city to see why it's lately bought such a drug. You will find the murderer. Uh-huh. How do you like Trinidad, Mr. Porgioli? I like it very much indeed. You've just arrived, haven't you? Yes. In what university do you teach back in the States? Ohio State. A chair of criminal psychology in an ordinary state university? I'm not a professor. I'm simply a docent. And I haven't specialized on criminal psychology. I quiz on general psychology. You're not teaching now? No, this is my sabbatical year. You look young to have taught in the university six years, but then you're American start young in your land of specialists. Now, you and Mr. Porgioli, I suppose you're wrapped up heart and soul in your psychology. I am. You'd do anything in the world to advance yourself in the science. I rather think so. Especially keen on original research work. That's what he is, you vicar. Do you know what he asked me to do yesterday afternoon? No, what, Mr. Low? Oh, I don't think we ought to burden Mr. Vicar with our household anecdotes. Oh, but I'm really curious. Just what did Mr. Porgioli ask you to do yesterday afternoon, Mr. Low? Really, nothing, nothing at all. It was just a little psychological experiment he wanted to do. Did he do it? Oh, no, no, no, no. I wouldn't hear of it. Oh, as unconventional as that. Oh, just really nothing, nothing at all. I think I could guess your anecdote if I tried, gentlemen. About a half an hour ago, I received a telephone message from my man stationed at the temple to keep a lookout for you and Mr. Porgioli. A lookout for us? Yes, because one of the coolies under arrest told him that Mr. Porgioli slept in the temple last night. Oh, but that's not true. That's exactly what he didn't do. He suggested it to me, but I said no. You remember, Porgioli, you... You didn't do it. Did you, Porgioli? Did you? You see, he did. Gentlemen, I... I had a perfectly valid and important reason for sleeping in the temple last night, and so I can only ask your sympathetic attention to what I'm about to say. Well, you and I were down there watching a wedding procession. Well, just as the music stopped and the procession entered the building, suddenly it seemed to me as if... as if they vanished. Naturally, they'd gone into the building. No, no, I don't mean that. I'm afraid you won't understand what I do mean. That the whole procession that ceased to exist melted into nothingness. You see, that's really the idea in which the Hindus base their notion of heaven, oblivion, nothingness. Yes, I've heard that before. Well, our medieval Gothic architecture thought perhaps the Indian architecture had somehow caught the motif of the Indian religion, you know, suggested nirvana. That's what amazed and intrigued me. That's why I wanted to sleep in the place. I wanted to see if I could further my shred of impression. Doesn't that make any sense to you, Mr. Vegas? We are not interested why you went, Mr. Porgioli. We know a murder took place in the temple. You... you don't... You can't think that I committed a horrible murder as an experiment. You intellectual chaps do some pretty weird things, Mr. Porgioli. While only the other day I was reading about two young intellectuals... Yes, these fellows I read about also tried to turn an honest penny by their murder. I don't suppose you happened to notice yesterday that the little bride, Maila Ran, was almost covered with gold bangles and coins. Of course I noticed. But I had nothing whatever to do with her. I... I did sleep in the temple. By the way, you say you slept on a rug just as the Coolies did. Yes, I did. And you didn't wake up either, Mr. Porgioli? No, no. Then did the child's murderer happen to put a coin and a bangle in your pockets, just as he did the other sleepers in the temple? I don't know. I... I haven't looked in my pocket since then. Then please do so now, Mr. Porgioli. Oh, yes. Here we are, Mr. Fickers. You don't happen to have any more, do you? Oh, I've already been through all my pockets and I haven't any more. Well, that's something. Of course you might have expected just such a questioning as this and provided yourself with these two pieces of gold, but I doubt it. Somehow I don't believe that you're an experienced enough man to think of such a thing. However, we shall see. I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Porgioli, to my accompanying you over to have a little search of your baggage and Mr. Lowe's cottage. Now then, Mr. Porgioli, be so kind as to open your trunk. Mm-hmm. Just as I thought.   But you... you can't believe that I did it. You don't believe I did this, do you? I... I... I don't. In your trunk, Porgioli. If I did it, I would sleepwalking. God, they think that it's possible, but right here in my own trunk. Well, we might as well start back, I suppose. This is all. I'll... I'll go back with you, Porgioli. I'll see you through. Somehow I can't. I won't believe you did it. You know, Porgioli, you set out to clear Buldman Lowe and, well, dash it all. It looks as if you had. No, he didn't. Buldman Lowe was out of jail at least an hour before you fellows came into police headquarters to see me. Oh! You mean that you turned him loose? Yes. How's that, Chief Pickett? Because, Mr. Lowe, he didn't go to the temple at all with his wife last night. He went down to Queen's Park Hotel and played billiards till one o'clock. He called up a few friends and proved that easily enough. My word. That... that leaves nobody but... Yes. Porgioli. I don't know anything about it. If I did commit the murder, I was asleep. I don't know anything about it. That's all I can say. I don't know anything about it. Perhaps a rest in jail will help restore your memory. Well, we'll see. Come now, Porgioli, old man. Don't be too downhearted. I promise you I'll do everything I can. The case against Henry Porgioli, having been duly tried by a jury of your peers, you've been found guilty and by the powers invested in me. A hero had sentenced you to be hanged by the neck, until you are dead. To recall a lost dream is the most tantalizing task ever a human brain was driven to. But if I lie still long enough on this bunk, perhaps I can recapture the dream I had in the temple last night. Yes. It seems to me that the image on the altar moved. And suddenly the dome overhead was opened and left me staring upward into a vast abyss where I was alone in endless space. Where all creatures and all matter that had ever been or ever would be were wrapped up at me. Porgioli, that's an odd thing. Six men dreaming the same dream in different terms. There must be a physical cause for such a phenomenon. Of course. I've got it. Because, whoa, I have it. I've solved it. Get me out of here. I know who killed the girl. What is it, my friend? I know who murdered the bride. All the hieradas did it. Now listen. Listen. Go tell Beckels to take the gold he found in my trunk and develop all the fingerprints on it. He'll find hieradas's prints. Also tell him to follow out that opiate clue I gave him. He'll find the hieradas sent a man to put the gold in my trunk. See if they don't find brats or steel filings in my room where the scoundrel sat and filed a new key. But they've already done that long ago. I have. But certainly. And old hieradas confessed everything. Though why a rich old man like him should have murdered a pretty child is more than I can see. But why did he pick on me as a scapegoat? Oh, he explained that to the police. He said he picked on a white man so the police would make a thorough investigation and be sure to catch him. Didn't I? But what I can't see is why the old boy wanted to be caught and hanged. But why didn't he commit suicide? Why? I know why. Because according to his religion in that case his soul would have returned in the form of some beast. He wanted to be slain because he expects to be reborn instantly in Benares with little Myeloran as his bride instead of his nephews. He hopes to be a great man with wife and children. All the things he was not. Here in Trinidad. Yes, yes. You must be right. Why didn't you come and tell me about Hieradas's confession the moment it occurred? What do you mean keeping me here when you know I'm an innocent man? Why didn't you tell me before this? Because I couldn't. Old Hieradas didn't confess until a month and ten days after you were hanged. So ends the passage to Benares. T.S. Stribling's tale of mysterious death and death mysterious. This was tonight's story of... Suspense. Suspense is produced by William Spear. John Deets was our guest director this evening. Tonight's radio drama was written by Carol Case and scored by Bernard Herrmann. Paul Stewart was Poggioli. Barry Kroger was Mr. Hieradas. And Horace Bram played Mr. Low. Other than the cast were Alan Hewitt and Guy Repp. Next week at this time Columbia will bring you another selected story from the world's great literature of thrills. Another study in suspense. This is Barry Kroger and this is the Columbia Broadcasting System.


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Dan ga ik je tot slot ander van de zijders, het socioprofessor van de Universiteit Ambroek met Sibyl Telkantry aan het zetten van de België-situatie, de Oostje Oostje. In mijn talk today, I will focus on the role of the national judges in the recovery procedure. I will most specifically look at how recovery legislation can help national judges in overcoming certain challenges and difficulties. In fact, I want to take care of the judges today. To do that I will compare the Dutch recovery legislation that was just discussed by my colleague and the Belgian legislation that we had in place. First I will also give some statistics of Belgium stated recovery cases. Then I will briefly summarize the role of the national judges from a new perspective in recovery cases. Then I will explain my case, the excess profit ruling, the Belgian stated case. And then I will look at how for instance the Belgian stated case, the Belgian excess profit ruling stated decision is dealt with in Belgium and how this would be dealt with in the Netherlands. And what legislation is the most appropriate to help national judges to fulfill their role. So first some statistics. As in the Netherlands you can see on the slide that the stated cases are rather limited. Since 2000 we had 13 stated cases and now since 2014 there are still 5 cases pending. One of them is the excess profit ruling decision. The cases are limited but on the other hand the amounts at stake are very high and they have a very invasive effect on the beneficiaries. You see that until 2013, €333 million was considered as stated and the major part of the amount has been recovered in Belgium. You can also see that the amounts are higher than the amounts that have been considered as stated so far in the Netherlands. But then in the new cases the amounts are even higher. You see the excess profit. There we are talking of already about €700. These are the decisions at the new level. When we look at court decisions regarding the stated, you can also see that the court decisions so far of Belgian courts are limited. Since near 2000 I would find 76 court decisions. The tax cases, the tax court decisions in relation to stated are even more limited. There are only 3 cases and these 3 cases impact our decisions of our Belgian constitutional courts where a taxpayer claims that a certain tax or the scope of application of a certain exemption was not in line with the principle of equality or constitutional principle of equality because the tax or the exemption was selective. At the same time, a taxpayer invoked that there was not only an infringement of the constitutional principle of equality but also of the state insurance. That was the argument of the taxpayer. Unfortunately, these cases, the claim was not successful. The constitutional court ruled that there was, in fact, there was no problem. What are the recovery methods that we know in Belgium? Contrary to what is the case now in the Netherlands, we do not have a general recovery legislation. In principle, the ordinary rules apply so this means that ordinary administrative law or ordinary civil law procedures are applicable. The question which procedure is applicable depends on the nature of the measure through which the aid was granted. In addition, our legislator introduced specific ad hoc legislation at two occasions. So after the commission decision, at two occasions, the legislator introduced a specific law to organize the recovery of the state as ordered in the commission decision. The first time was a long time ago, in my well case, concerned exemptions of social security contributions, which were considered as stated and are now more recently being accessed profit-ruling, which is also considered as a state-aid sheen, and so recovery was necessary. The recovery is organized in a specific legislation, and it is this specific legislation that I would like to compare with the ad hoc legislation as is recently introduced in the Netherlands. If we look at these recovery methods, what is the role of the national judges? Well, the role of the national judges in the first place is very challenging. The national judges have to find a balance between on the one hand their national law and on the other hand the EU law. We all know that in principle there is national procedural autonomy, but on the other hand the judge also has to take care of immediate and effective recovery. And so the national court has to leave the national procedural rules that may hinder that effective and immediate recovery. They have to leave it unavailable. For instance, suspension rules or limitation periods. On the other hand, the task of the national judge is also very complex. We know that the commission itself must not determine the individual amounts to be recovered. In general the tax administration will do so, but it is the task of the national judge when there are certain discussions over the amounts to review the calculation of the amounts. And our experience in Belgium is that that is not always easy. For instance in the Maribel case I just mentioned a concerned exemption of social security contributions, but that case concerned more than 2000 enterprises and in order to determine the amount to be recovered one had to look at every quarter how many manual workers were employed by a certain enterprise and how many hours that worker was actually employed and worked in order to be able to compute the exemption that was lawfully granted. So that was a huge work and it's really complex then for a judge to be able to review that calculation. To a very complex task for the judges, but also a very important task because based on decisions of the court of justice if the effect of an immediate recovery is not possible or is not realized as a result of a national court decision then also a state can be sanctioned for failure to implement the commission. So a very important task there also for the national judges. And then finally it is also the role and the task of the national court to take care of the fundamental rights of the beneficiaries for instance legitimate expectations. The beneficiaries count on the national judges, but on the other hand we also know that in state case decisions national judges have to put aside their national principles for instance the national legitimate expectation principle and apply the very strict EU principle of legitimate expectations. I think that for some beneficiaries judges may leave beneficiaries with kind of an awkward feeling and I think also here this requirement may raise certain questions about the legitimacy of even state-aid rules the legitimacy of recovery of state-aid rules and that makes it even more difficult for a judge to make or to take such an invasive recovery. So if we take all these considerations together I think we can say that the national judge is faced with some tensions that he has to solve. On the one hand he has a very important role he has to review the state-aid cases but on the other hand these state-aid cases are very complex and we have seen that national judges only have to deal with a limited number of cases so they don't really have the opportunity to become experts in these matters and so maybe it's difficult for a judge to fulfill this important role. Second, the judge also has to manage the balance between UNO and national law which is not easy and then finally the recovery of state-aid may be very invasive as I mentioned because of the high amounts that are at stake and on the other hand the national court has to base its to grant his decision of EU state-aid rules dat's maybe lack a little bit of legitimacy which is a delicate decision. So what I want to do in the remaining part of my talk is to look at to what extent does the Dutch legislation or to what extent does the Belgian legislation help the national judges to overcome all these challenges en I will use for this comparison a case the excess profit ruling case I'm a Belgian specialist so I'm with the Belgian case. The excess profit ruling was extensively promoted by our Minister of Finance and what was the idea of the excess profit ruling well the idea was that if you had a company in Belgium a part of a multinational group then a part of the profits of the accounting profits of that Belgian company would not have been realized by the Belgian company if that were a standard company. Why? Because part of those profits in fact are generated by group synergies are generated by intangibles so this part of the profit should not have been allocated from a tax perspective, from an island's land perspective to that Belgian company but in fact belongs somewhere to the group so the idea was we are going to exempt and how is this realized? Well, a Belgian law provided a downward profit adjustment equal to that profit generated by group synergies one of the ideas behind this rule was also to transfer activities to Belgium and because in that case part of your profit would remain tax exempt one of the arguments also to introduce this downward profit adjustment was the fact that there may be a risk of double taxation because to the extent that this profit allocated to the Belgian company is generated by group synergies there is always a risk that part of that profit will also be taxed abroad and added to the profits of another company so that was one of the considerations but the law does not provide that it is really required that part of the profit is effectively picked up in another country and the possibility that it might be taxed abroad is sufficient The commission started an investigation in February 2015 and then in 2016 there was the decision that the excess profit rulings consisted or were qualified to an individual stated sheen so really a sheen there were about 66 rulings grantments and in general in 2016 so we had the commission decision the Belgian state tried to obtain a suspension of recovery but this was dismissed In 2015, december 2015 we were aware of the fact that in general the decision of the commission would come so the legislator introduced a specific recovery legislation for the excess profit rulings sheen Meanwhile the Belgian state and also a lot of corporations introduced a claim with the general court but meanwhile I think most of the amounts are recovered so this is the case and what I would like to do now is compare how does the Belgian excess profit ruling recovery legislation works and how does this compare to the Dutch legislation and which one is the better so if we compare both legislations there is one very important similarity the aim of the Belgian legislator and also the aim of the Dutch legislator was to provide a legal basis for recovery based on a case law of the court of justice the commission decision as such cannot be enforced against the beneficioules it's not an enforceable instrument well because we need an individual decision in which for instance the individual amount to be recovered is calculated and this is not the case in the commission decision and in tax matters most of the times this individual decision will be an individual assessment by the tax authorities so I think that it's a very good thing we have a national law a national legal basis for the national tax authorities to take the decision so that's an important similarity there was the same consideration of the Belgian and the Dutch legislator what is an important difference however is that the Dutch legislator has chosen to introduce a general regarding the legislation for all future commission decisions we don't know which decisions will occur but one general legislation ex-ante so before all the commission decisions that may still be in Belgium on the contrary the legislator has not introduced such general legislation he has chosen to introduce specific legislation especially for those commission decisions where there are a lot of beneficiaries involved the Maribel case and now the excess as I will try to show a little bit further in my presentation I think this offers the opportunity the possibility to make tailor made rules en to address specific problems that can occur in these public cases so first I will briefly touch upon two general differences between then I will discuss two more specific differences that relate to this narrow scope of the Belgian public legislation so first a general difference concerns the qualification of the aid to be recovered I understand that in the letterlets in the Dutch recovery legislation the tax aid to be recovered is qualified as a tax in Belgium we had some discussions about the qualification of tax aid to be recovered en er were some considerations the first consideration was that the person recovered state aid the amount to be recovered does not have the nature of the measure of the position aid was given aid recovered has assumed his nature so that was one consideration and then the second consideration was the question if this aid to be recovered is qualified as a tax maybe we can have a problem that is considered as a retroactive tax that is introduced now but in fact concerned quite some years ago and a retroactive tax would be contrary to our principle of legal certainty so in Belgium the amount to be recovered in principle qualifies as a suicamieries amount but then for the application of certain rules it is qualified as a tax for instance it is qualified as a tax in order to make sure that it is considered as a non-detectable tax expense otherwise you would again have benefits the rules concerning the establishment and collection of taxes are also explicitly applicable so here there is a similarity with an alert for recovery of tax aid we also apply the rules the procedure for establishment and selection of taxes also the taxes the amount to be recovered is assimilated to a tax the application of international instruments on mutual assistance for recovery and also for the legal remedies so if you have an assessment of the tax authorities in order for the tax to be recovered then the normal legal remedies administrative procedure will be available there was one discussion that we also discussed during the previous sessions of this project which judge is competent we had here four tax judges four Belgian tax judges and the fact that the amount to be recovered is in principle not a tax amount raised the question well are we competent then because it's not really a tax and there I think our analysis is that indeed the tax judges are competent because it concerns the calculation of a tax so the application of the tax law and most discussions will also arise after the assessment of the tax authorities when the assessment of the tax authorities is challenged by the beneficiary it will concern this tax assessment and so that brings us to the tax judges a second general difference concerns the situation when the commission decision is successfully challenged I understand that in the Netherlands this situation is not addressed in the recovery legislation in our excess profits ruling legislation this situation is dealt with so first it is clarified that repayments to the beneficiary can only occur when there is a final decision either a decision of the general court without possibility anymore for appeal or a decision of the court of justice it is also clarified in which procedure applied so it's our really ex officio it's an existing procedure and the tax authorities have to repay the amount of 12 months and then a specific problem is also addressed because if we would not have these specific rules then the normal moratorium interests would be due to the beneficiary but our moratorium interests are much higher than the EU interests and so the beneficiary would receive too much back and so here the moratorium interests is to be then just two more specific examples of how specific legislation makes it possible to make a tailor made rules because if you introduce general legislation as is the case in Netherlands then there may be certain problems there are certain problems that you may not think of on beforehand and these problems have been addressed in this specific legislation the first one is the beneficiary in the commission decision the commission has mentioned that the beneficiary of the excess profit rulings are not only the Belgian companies but also all the companies that are part of the multinational of the multinational group and then there was also a list with the Belgian companies that received a benefit based on this ruling based on misinformation for a national judge it may be difficult to know which companies are agents here so the Belgian first explicitly clarified that not only the companies on the list are are agents but also other companies and second it clarified that the additional assessment is of course in the hands of the Belgian company but then it is also enforceable against all other members of the group and this situation is not really addressed in the English legislation the second one or the second one is the amount to be recovered in the commission decision the amount to be recovered seems very straightforward the amount to be recovered is the tax benefit received increased by the interest calculated as from the date that you received the benefit but this is not so easy because in Belgium for instance the date when you receive the benefit is not clear in Belgium take for instance the year 2013 application of the excess profit ruling in 2013 for only profits of 2013 in Belgium a company has to make every quarter every quarter you have to estimate what is my tax view for this quarter and you have to pay that estimated tax view in 2013 in 2014 you have to file your tax return and then the year thereafter you will receive your final assessment and when was the benefit received when you had to pay your prepayments when you filed your tax return or when you received the final assessment if a judge has to interpret the commission decision there is no further guidance so here the advantage of the law is that the Belgian legislator explicitly provided that the amount that the benefit is considered to be received on the date of the fourth prepayment of quarter income tax so in 2013 in my example another I will not discuss all these difficulties but you see on the slide that there were a lot of concrete difficulties and technical problems with the calculation of the amount to be recovered I will give a second and last example here the application of other tax returns in practice there were a lot of companies that were in fact entitled to other tax deductions for instance the patent income deduction the national interest deduction but at that time they did not claim those deductions into their tax return because they weren't paying any tax based on the excess profit ruling so there was no need to claim all the other deductions so they did not fulfill the formalities that you need to comply in order to get deductions and the question was can we apply those deductions now to calculate the amount to be recovered because the formalities have not been complied with so there the legislator clarified yes you can do so provided that you can prove now that you meet at that time you complied with all the other conditions to get what is the conclusion of my short analysis first I think that specific legislation specific ad hoc legislation after the commission decision can help the judge to fulfill his important role and can help the judge to deal with the complexity and to deal with the complexity of state nature because in the specific legislation the legislator can give guidance to the judge how to compute that amount to be recovered second I think in a specific legislation the legislator can also give more guidance to the judge in respect of how the balance between conflicting EU law and national law should be addressed for instance in the excess profit during legislation the legislator also clarified that to the extent that the excess profit is picked up in another country and is effectively taxed abroad then this amount should not be considered as slated anymore and so there should not be recovery that is something that was not very clear in the commission decision and so here the legislator helps the administration but also the national judge to do that finally and this conclusion is maybe a little more subtle I think that specific recovery legislation may also help to contribute to the legitimacy of EU state officials and why well in the first of course there is a legal basis a national legal basis so the judge does not have to rely only on EU law but can also rely on what his national legislator decides but second I think that specific recovery legislation also offers the opportunity for introspection what do I mean when you have specific recovery legislation on a specific state that has to be debated in parliament and there the financial influence is very high and I think that offers the opportunity to question oneselfs and what have we done we have introduced this and now we have to recover it was it really our intention to introduce a selective tax incentive where all members of parliament fully aware of the fact that selective measure was introduced did we really let pressure groups push this selective measure through parliament how could that happen what happened so I think that all these considerations may also help a national judge to find more legitimacy in the EU state and in the recovery and also help the judge to take his very invasive decision


G'day all. As 2018 comes to an end, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their efforts throughout the year and for continuing that hard work over this festive season. Whilst we've had some recent rain, which has given us some respite, the bushfire season ahead could be long and difficult. I want to acknowledge that our commitment to protecting lives and properties mean many of you will spend time away from your loved ones. The success of our organization, CFA, is built on the commitment of our volunteers, our staff and our community as a whole. In this past year, I saw our organization come together to support each other through some pretty difficult times and this is where I saw CFA values reflected in our people and unwavering dedication to getting on with protecting the Victorian community. Over the Christmas break, please, please continue to look out for one another and have a safe and happy holiday. Thank you.


I'm Jay Fidel with this ThinkTech commentary. NPR reported that ISIS has been posting hit lists of people that should be attacked. The people on these lists are ordinary people, rank and file, the softest targets you can imagine, and they are in this country. They're not big politicians or people who have spoken out against ISIS or against Islamic terrorism, they're just ordinary folks. The hit list in New York, for example, has 3,600 names. The people on these lists are scared. Given all that ISIS has done, that's understandable. These people worry about themselves and their families. They worry that some activated activists will come after them when he sees their name on the list. It's a brilliant idea, actually, for ISIS to do this. It achieves the primary purpose of terrorism, terror, among great numbers of people. At the same time, we wonder why they would do this. Does it actually do anything positive for anyone? But it also acts as a kind of instruction book for domestic jihadists. They see the list, they see targets identified, it's all laid out for them, even without hearing anything directly from ISIS. So far, there hasn't been any attack on any of these people on any of these lists. But that may not last forever. It's entirely possible that one of these days, the wrong jihadist will get it in his mind to go after some poor guy who got onto the list. Perhaps some competitive media organization will publish the names on the list, and then there will be a price to pay when an activist goes after them. How would you feel if you were on the list? How would your family feel about it? Would you talk to them about it? It's pretty frightening to find that somebody, anybody, actually wants you dead for no reason at all. It's all the more frightening when you realize that the people who posted the list have a proven set of disaffected sleeper cells in this country who are willing and able to unleash themselves on murderous missions. This is just another chapter in the devolution of terror. And as we all know, with terror real or imagined, there comes repression.  And that's not good for anyone. It's a toxic and destructive cycle, but it may be emerging as the new global reality.  What has the 21st century come to? More to the point, can our democracy withstand such dreadful threats, threats without borders for which protection seems so elusive? Can we retain our humanity or are we on a path to a new world defined by repression and retribution? Although these threats are generated half a world away, their effect is happening right here at home, in our heartland and in our hearts. But if anything, can we do, should we do about it? What can we say to alleviate the fear that people will have when they find themselves or their families on the lists? And what does this new ISIS strategy mean in the hyperbole of our current presidential campaign? Does it favor Hillary Clinton? I doubt it. More likely, it favors Donald Trump and offers him a fresh reason to justify repression and possibly conflagration. Is that what ISIS wants? Is that what they're after? For us, their new strategy not only evokes terror, it evokes a feeling of powerlessness which itself is corrosive. So how exactly will our new president, whoever that may be, deal with this? Please tell me there's a good answer. We need to hear a good answer, and soon. I'm Jay Fidel with this Think Tech commentary.