A Nelson Munz moment

The wealth in the Caymans is staggering. Its hedge funds alone looks after $2.3tn (£1.4tn), according to figures last year, and its GDP places it as the world's 12th richest jurisdiction, despite a population of only 51,900.

When your entire economy is predicated on providing a way to allow citizens and businesses in other countries to evade taxes I can't imagine how you'd have the sheer effrontery to ask one of those countries to bail you out.

Let us remember that tax havens like the Caymens are not, as in the case of places like Ireland, offering favourable tax regimes to attract businesses; rather, they provide a way for people who wish to enjoy the amenities of first world nations—healthcare, policing, roading, and so on—while avoiding coughing up for any of those social institutions and services they avail themselves of. They are, in effect, parasite nations.

So good on the UK for telling them to fuck off.

"I fear you will have no choice but to consider new taxes – perhaps payroll and property taxes," Bryant wrote to Bush. "I understand, of course, that in so doing you will want to consider carefully the implications for Caymans' economy, including the financial services industry."

Ha-ha, indeed.