This graphic shows part of the estimated $21 trillion in assets that is being funneled through other parts of the world by the rich in order to take advantage of lax tax codes in other nations or to dodge paying taxes in their native countries altogether:

Credit: Capital flight Illustration/Giulio Frigieri for the Observer

According to this article from The Guardian:

… some experts believe the amount of assets being held offshore is so large that accounting for it fully would radically alter the balance of financial power between countries. The French economist Thomas Piketty, an expert on inequality who helps compile the World Top Incomes Database, says research by his colleagues has shown that “the wealth held in tax havens is probably sufficiently substantial to turn Europe into a very large net creditor with respect to the rest of the world.”

In other words, even a solution to the eurozone’s seemingly endless sovereign debt crisis might be within reach – if only Europe’s governments could get a grip on the wallets of their own wealthiest citizens.

It’s both shocking and disconcerting to think about how much of that potential tax money could be used to improve the lives of the poor, boost education, create new infrastructure and support life-saving research, all so the super rich can stroke their massive egos and satiate their near limitless greed.

Read more here.