lol sorry I meant exports coming in American businesses can't compete with products build with slave labor, its impossible...
American business can compete, and has competed well in the past. To compete you only have to add value, either through absolute or comparative advantage. America may not build tennis shoes -- because that's not where they have an advantage. They might instead provide management consulting, entertainment, financial services, or agricultural products. American businesspeople are smart -- they aren't going to compete with low-cost labor on it's own terms. Unfortunately, current U.S. regulations and tax laws give an incredible advantage to foreign corporations and that advantage is becoming even larger as the government tries to prevent U.S. corporations from operating overseas. The government is slowly killing the goose that has laid golden eggs for over two hundred years.
I respect your opinion, but don't see it that way Spencer, Yea the government allows alot of b.s to go on, but Jobs going over seas is whats killing this economy. How many Jobs has the U.S to China? made in the U.S.A is more then a slogan, its plea to save U.S jobs... The U.S does not need to prevent companies from outsourcing over seas, but it does need to raise the taxes for those that do, and lower the taxes for those who stay. These companies that do outsource to slave labor, owe their riches to U.S buyers. As long as they can make a decent profit, America will still be their #1 consumer, so they arnt going nowhere.
We do with people in our prison systems. I think we should do the same with the majority of our welfare recipients. There is always going to be a section of our population that is qualified to do little more than some manual repetitive task. I hate to sound like a socialist here (its the Californian in me), but I'd rather have these people performing manufacturing jobs which have not yet been automated than working for the TSA, or receiving a welfare check. Worth it's own thread, but from what I can tell, Obama has shut the hell up on removing the $85k tax umbrella for income earned abroad. I know I hear a lot of talk from both sides of the isle on "penalizing companies that send jobs overseas", but I have not yet seen a single a single official piece of proposed legislation so I can evaluate it on it's merits. Trump is calling for a flat 25% import tax on all products made in China as a response to their currency manipulation. What do you think of that?
Prison labor terrifies me due to the obvious opportunities for abuse. See Federal Proposal Increases Taxes on U.S. Companies Doing Business Overseas for one recent example. This started with Remarks by the President on International Tax Policy Reform, which was followed up by a press release from the Treasury Department, Leveling the Playing Field: Curbing Tax Havens and Removing Tax Incentives for Shifting Jobs Overseas. I normally enjoy watching Trump's antics, but he's really gone off the deep end on this one. I cannot think of a single living economist who supports the use of tariff's. When Friedman and Krugman agree on an issue, that's pretty much a consensus. Moving the conversation forward one step... switching from a national income tax to a national sales tax would stop our governments current effective subsidy on foreign goods flowing into the U.S. It would go a long way to restoring a fair playing field for American companies.
Sure, but requiring welfare recipients to work in factories would leave the decision in the hands of the recipients. Looking at Google's effective tax rate of 2.3%, there are obviously some reforms that are necessary here. Reading the proposed legislation in the last link, I like the idea of foreign subsidiaries having to comply annually with US tax law, though the rest looks like Obama wants to form a brute squad and send them out into the woods to beat the peasants to get his taxes. I was also surprised at how much the proposed legislation appears to subjugate foreign and sovereign nations to our tax code. With such complicated solutions, I have to wonder why they have never simply considered lowering the federal income tax rate for corporations in the US. Trump is a salesman, and a guy with his finger on the pulse of what sells. Right now, xenophobia and protectionism are sure bets. Interesting write up. I absolutely love your nicknames for the companies and consumers. You need to add the following items to your FAQ at the end. 1) What would the national sales tax rate have to be in order to be remain revenue neutral when implemented coincident with the elimination of Federal income taxes? 2) Wouldn't the Federal sales tax need to be levied as an import tax on all personal goods sent in from abroad(Most ebay sales take place in this format, avoiding all existing state sales taxes)? 3) Wouldn't elimination of the income tax sharpen the divide between the rich and the poor, since the rich earn income on their capital(unlimited supply), while the poor earn income on their labor(very limited supply)? As devil's advocate, Costa Rica has almost no sales/import tax on staples (rice/beans) but fairly hefty sales/import taxes on everything else. The result was an impoverished and overweight population that eats rice and beans daily, while us rich folk dine on such luxuries as smoked meats, imported wines, and lucky charms. One could make the argument that keeping the cost of such staples low helped keep the cost of labor down, since nobody was technically starving based on what we paid them. Some of my friends went a step further and rented housing back to their laborers, eliminating another 50% of the wages paid to their employees and the associated taxes. Its an awesome deal if you are a guy with some capital, but it is a social mobility killer.
After several years of working with those type of people while managing a temp agency, I can't help but think that the cost of the bureaucracy to manage them might exceed the value of their contribution. I believe the quoted figure is an odd way of looking at things. It's a rate based upon Google's total revenue, not their taxable revenue. The non-taxable earnings which Google Ireland is retaining will be used for things like R&D and operations -- or they will be brought back to the U.S. and become taxable. The income is not permanently untaxable -- it becomes taxable when it is brought into the U.S. I read it the same way. The U.S. isn't going to make a lot of friends internationally by demanding that companies and citizens of every other nation on Earth subjugate themselves to U.S. law. Because they are Democrats and corporations are evil, except when giving campaign contributions and "speaking fees". I know, and that saddens me. All good ideas! A low cost of labor could certainly help the U.S. compete internationally.
Not necessarily so. I'm sure you'll know the exact wording of the quote and who said it, but some wise man said every time you give a man a check for doing nothing at all, you buy a small piece of his self worth. Taking aside the cost of operations, welfare programs create unhappy people who allow themselves to become dependent on the system. Personally I would be happy if welfare recipients had to spend two hours a day moving rocks from one stack to another, and then back again. The money ceases to be "free". Turning their efforts into a financial gain could be as simple as putting them all on exercise cycles for the same amount of time. Their health would improve lowering state funded medical costs and, given the current welfare employment numbers in California, they could generate enough electricity to power half the state. Anything would be better than what we have right now. Right now, our state government is buying air time on local radio stations to advertise food assistance programs. Seriously! The pitch goes something like, "Think you make to much to qualify for state sponsored food? Think again." Then come the testamonials, of working couples that thought they would never qualify and how surprised they were to find out they do. They've even taken away the shame of food stamps. Now they issue you a card that looks and works like a credit card which you can slide without shame at the point of sale. Some local state sponsored Indian casinos now accept the cards and allow people to gamble with the funds. In this state, it is like the world has gone mad. As one ex-pat to another, lets be serious. Some of that revenue will make it back to the US to be taxed, but we both know that most of that money never needs to be repatriated for it's benefits to be enjoyed. The caymans in particular play host to a variety of trusts with directors and no single American as more than 5% stake holder for the purposes of tax declaration. Those trusts then buy up assets such as boats, planes, cars, houses held in the name of the trust and leased to the true beneficiaries for pennies on the dollar. Even if such tax evasion schemes were not popular (which they are), no business in the US has the benefit of letting its revenue stream grow untaxed in favor of being taxed at some later point in time. The tax man comes every year without fail to take his pound of flesh from all profits after expenses earned in that 365 day period. One of my ex-girlfriends grew up in Singapore while her dad started up operations for one of the big 5 in South East Asia. You might even know the guy. Only one of the 18(?) guys who originally reported to him still retained his US citizenship after a decade. Unlike the US, the UK does not tax its citizens on income earned abroad. Dramatically lowering our corporate tax rate seems like the only legitimate way to solve this problem. I agree, so long as we keep avenues of social mobility open. Should we become the oligarchy it appears we might, it would be bad for the nation as a whole.
This is so very true and it has done so much to destroy the once proud United States of America. I would prefer to end the destructive policy of welfare altogether. But, you probably would also. I don't think that's a pony I'm getting for the next few hundred years. Eventually mankind will learn, but I'm pretty sure I'll be dead by then. Hilarious, as if the government has a lot of unused cash that they desperately need to give away. That is surprising. How is that legal? I'm sure you know the saying, "California is like a breakfast ceral: It's full of fruits, nuts, and flakes." Ah... I was intending to refer specifically to Google. But, the same model holds for large companies in general. Small companies and individuals... they are a different umm... pattern. Corporations aren't stupid, of source. They will just move their headquarters to Ireland and make the U.S. parts of the corporations subsidiaries. There will be no end of these hijinx until the U.S. government reduces or eliminates corporate taxes. U.S. citizenship is an economic albatross. It's like trying to swim in economic waters with a toilet bowl strung around your neck. Yep! Social mobility is guaranteed as long as it is possible to save and invest. Destroy those opportunities and no amount of busing, training, job fairs, free schooling, student loans, contract preferences, hiring quotas, or "equal opportunity" legislation can guarantee social mobility.
The nanny state guarantees some minimum level of existence for its citizens via welfare, state funded health insurance, and housing. It seems every one of these programs either becomes a source of criminality or abuse. I agree with the need to help those who are truly unable to help themselves. I just haven't seen any state sponsored program that does more good than harm. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/25/local/la-me-welfare-casinos-20100625 I don't imagine it is, but its not like we are going to prosecute. Today the California Supreme Court is weighing in on releasing 40,000 inmates from California State prisons based on overcrowding alone. Of course the outrageous pension checks that are bankrupting the state, negotiated in backroom deals between our Democrat run government and Union Bosses are considered sacrosanct. I don't think the financial state of California and the impact it will have on the US economy has really hit home with the rest of the country yet. Did you see the response to the Union response to Obama's token effort of a 3 year pay freeze? And since I'm on a rant, I should mention a few of our fine eco-conscious, green living, philanthropy supporting, Democrat loving, billionaire Angelinos I've been reading about. I'm talking about Stewart Resnick and his lovely wife, the people who brought us POM water, and Fiji water, and donated $150,000 to help elect Gerry Brown in 2010. I throw it in because the Democrats are always crying poor, and claiming Republicans are the party of all non-union special interests. For your reading enjoyment: http://www.minyanville.com/special-...ji-Lynda-Resnick-robert-a/10/21/2010/id/30623 http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2010-02-18/007506 Yes. Or more simply put, lower taxes will always draw business. Period. I'm not sure what is so complicated about that.
Back when I was working in the temp industry, I would drive over to the state "work office" and try to get people to go to work. Most of the jobs involved work like cleaning up trash at construction sites. I received threats of violence more often than I found people who were willing to go to work. I also went to the office where people collected food stamps and never was able to get one person to accept a job. I did have regular luck at the homeless shelter. From the few hundred people there, I could usually find one or two who would accept a job. I never was able to get one of those guys with the "Will Work For Food" signs to work for money. In my younger days I dug ditches, painted fence, built scaffolding (great fun!), washed dishes (not so bad with the right equipment), cleaned hotel rooms (ughhh...), cleaned buildings, and probably a dozen other things I've forgotten. I have zero sympathy for people who are not willing to do the same. If they want to lay down and die, I believe that we should let them.