Apple, Cisco, and Google want a tax holiday

[dd2003]

As a coalition led by Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) presses for a tax holiday on more than $1 trillion in offshore profits, it is turning to a well-positioned lobbyist: Jeffrey Forbes, once chief of staff to Max Baucus, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. Data compiled by Bloomberg News show that Forbes is part of an army of more than 160 lobbyists, including at least 60 who once worked for a sitting member of the House or Senate, pushing for the repatriation holiday. Their job is to persuade Congress to establish a tax break estimated to cost the U.S. government $78.7 billion over the next decade.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/google-joins-apple-mobilizing-lobbyists-to-push-for-tax-holiday-on-profits.html

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. You mean that money Cisco earned helping China crush dissidents?

[aquart]

2. Every day is a holiday for Google and Apple.

Their lack of patriotism and unwillingness to share the sacrifice in these hard times is disgusting.

[msongs]

3. recall when google was the new kid and everyone wished it well? now its the enemy nt

[JDPriestly]

4. No way! Not unless all Americans get a tax holiday.

[sfpcjock]

5. That old saw is a ripoff. We've been there, done that.

Wrong way to go about it. Totally.

[Safetykitten]

6. Oh my, not our beloved Apple! Say it's not so. They love us, they give us stuff for our fingers.

[dkf]

7. Well don't give the break and the money won't come back.

Then they invest it there, create more R&D in the countries that are beginning to lap us in their emphasis on education, and build their societies instead of ours.

That will probably be what happens anyway.

[girl gone mad]

8. Most of those countries have higher tax rates.

[dkf]

11. And more opportunity.

I recently came across a piece by Andy Grove of intel and it really struck me. I couldn't find the original article but the money paragraph is here:

piece is long, detailed and worth reading in full, but the central point is this:  an economy that innovates prolifically but consistently exports its jobs to lower cost overseas locations will eventually lose not only its capacity for mass production, but eventually also its capacity for innovation....  (Emphasis added.)

More:

You could say, as many do, that shipping jobs overseas is no big deal because the high-value work -- and much of the profits -- remain in the U.S. That may well be so. But what kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work -- and masses of unemployed? …

Not only did we lose an untold number of jobs, we broke the chain of experience that is so important in technological evolution. As happened with batteries, abandoning today’s “commodity” manufacturing can lock you out of tomorrow’s emerging industry. …

Our generation has seen the decisive victory of free-market principles over planned economies. So we stick with this belief, largely oblivious to emerging evidence that while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a modification that is even better. …

Our pursuit of our individual businesses, which often involves transferring manufacturing and a great deal of engineering out of the country, has hindered our ability to bring innovations to scale at home. Without scaling, we don’t just lose jobs -- we lose our hold on new technologies. Losing the ability to scale will ultimately damage our capacity to innovate.


http://www.msci.com/insights/responsible_investing/grove_us_jobs.html

Here is another piece of his:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_28/b4186048358596.htm

We need to be thinking differently, making sure what we do incentivizes what moves us forward.

It may be that leaving the tax as is serves our interest, but I just dont see it.

[girl gone mad]

14. Tax these corporations that engage in labor arbitrage..

and invest the money back here at home.

[DainBramaged]

17. They don't give a shit about America, are you serious?

:rofl:

[xchrom]

9. Fuck 'em. Nt

[LooseWilly]

10. What was Nancy Reagan's motto? ... "Just Say No."

After all, corporations are people too... they should say "no" too. Reagan says so. ;)

[Kurovski]

12. Suck it. (nt)

[dd2003]

13. word

...

[OhioChick]

15. Screw them n/t

[DainBramaged]

16. And the Applenauts hover in reverence at the image of the Apple

while they fuck America and laugh at us all the way to unimaginable profits.


The next time anyone tells me Apple is better, I suggest they look up two words that don't mean have sex.