Government's a beast that needs to be starved anyway - may be the only way to control it.

You mentioned that you can borrow money at 1.5%. I hope I'm not being too forward, but how are you using your credit line? To purchase hard assets? To fund projects like Oxide?

Also, I assume the seasonal cashflow issue you mentioned some time ago is no longer an issue?

Do you track a ROI per employee metric?

Okay, so you starve government through everyone withholding/cheating on their taxes.... so who do you propose builds all the necessary infrastructure; funds all the dirty decisions nobody else wants to make; pays for the huge war machine and its ongoing expense accounts?

Private Enterprise?

Sure, and turn the US into one huge 'user pays' society where everything costs... including the roads you travel to work on... and every bullet/missile fired in anger costs the public thrice as much because you've turned from a non-profit organisation to profit motivated corporations who will want to see your last red cent.

Good one!  And Apple is your saviour.

No question they have leverage over us when it comes to starving the government of cash, starkers.  When faced with shortfalls, they always fire pothole fillers, cops & DMV clerks but continue funding for research on the sex habits of the Malaysian black-spotted tree frog and Cowboy Poetry festivals.  But we can't let them think they can just have all they want.

I'm not suggesting that government always spends taxpayer money wisely, far from it. From my own recollection of the Australian government, the waste has sometimes been enormous and almost criminal... like the time it spent 6 mil on a painting to hang in parliament house.

However, governments do things where nobody else can be bothered or wants to get their hands dirty, and that's where paying you dues and not claiming bogus deductions on your tax return is the right thing to do. Government is always going to fund nut-jobs and their wacky study ideas because there'll always be arsewipe politicians with a sympathetic ear, meaning that vital areas will come up short of funding when the majority of taxpayers follow your lead and start claiming on every restaurant meal; gallon of juice; doctors bill; pharmacy bill; etc, etc.

At the end of the day, however, what you and a few million other taxpayers don't pay through various bogus claims, etc, is but a piss in the ocean compared to what Apple and other corporations are avoiding in taxes.... and this is where you begin the fight to bring your own tax rate down, by lobbying government - via a Taxpayers Association -  to amend the tax laws and force the corporations into compliance.  And when they pay their fair share, you pay less and without having to lodge bogus claims.

Ah....punctuation....

There was me getting curious about the sex habits of the Cowboy Poetry festivals ....

The one I like to bitch about is that the US sends foreign aid to China!

We stupidly borrow money from them and then turn around and give it back as foreign aid.

They must be laughing their asses off all the way to the bank.

Yup, ALL the way to the bank.  Makes as much sense as sending aid to North Korea, just so they can build crap to blow the shit out of South Korea... and aid to Iran, so it can continue its nuclear programme and blow the shit out of Israel.

For mine, there'd be no foreign aid programmes anywhere... NONE!  All I would have is a natural disaster fund to help those stricken by events out of their control... other than that they can all eff off.  Not very charitable, I know, but our government sends far more money in overseas aid than it spends on helping out our own homeless persons and the 1000's of people living below the poverty line.... and charity begins at home.

Trust you!

You'll find this interesting, if you haven't seen it already.

Yes, it is interesting, though quite expected.  While the OP was all about Apple because it is ripping off Australia, I had no doubt that companies like IBM and Microsoft were guilty of the same in the US, and that's what pisses me off.  So much more could be done to ease national debt and to benefit our nations as a whole, if only these corporations invested back into the relevant economies instead of hording trillions to themselves.

So while my original gripe was/is with Apple, I have no love for the other perpetrators who contribute to extremes in inequality regarding wealth, health and other life basics that so many poor people simply have to go without.

There is only one term for it: Extreme Greed at its very worst.

Perhaps the root of the problem is the nature of the corporate enterprise.  Seems to me the requirement to maximize dividends each quarter to the exclusion of all other factors is actually enshrining one of the most negative aspects of human nature.  Selfishness, and disregard for the consequences of 'externaiities' on others is great for making lots of profits, but terrible for the neighbors. Whats legal, even whats required by some laws, does not make it moral.  Indeed, it might be considered evil.

There's no might about it in my book... I consider the architects and perpetrators of these immoral and monetary crimes against humanity evil in the utmost.

For mine, there should be a Corporate Execution Committee that votes daily on which CEO, exec and banker deserves to die most, then line the bastards up against a wall at the end of the week and have a 7 gun salute to rid the world of the world's most heinous businessmen and women.  Nope, no mercy if they're female... the bitches wanted equality so let 'em have it with the same calibre shot the male variety gets.

First female to get it... Gina Rinehart.

First male to get it... Tim Cook.

Yeah, that's right, I'm in a pretty pissed off mood... if only, if only.

Again, it's a matter of scale.  Personal thresholds for 'evil' vary wildly when it comes to money and 'fairness'.  That's why a political process is necessary to set societal thresholds.  If enough like-minded people elect similarly-minded representatives, the problem 'should' be addressed, not to the satisfaction of everyone, but the peak of the bell curve should at least be approximated.

Of course, if enough other-minded corporate officers and lobbyists throw enough cash at enough other-minded (corrupt) representatives, the peak of the curve can be severely distorted.  So our only recourse is to know and avoid, or successfully persuade, the 'other-minded' representatives.  It really is up to the political process to resolve - like any child or pet, a corporation will test limits and get away with whatever it's allowed to get away with.  In a certain sense, that's part of its 'job'.  And it's our job to push back through our political processes, assuming the will to do so is there.

Shoot, just one comment after my suggesting a corporate firing squad... thought I'd have gotten a few bites for that one.

I don't actually advocate such a thing in a real sense, though... I mean, let's not stoop to a 'corporate' low.

People have been predicting hyperinflation ever since Obama got into office... there are no indications it will happen anytime soon as long as the U.S. is still stuck in a liquidity trap. Phasing out QE while the economy is still tepid would be disastrous.

Foreign aid is a minuscule part of the budget. The actual percentage of our debt that the Chinese hold is small compared to how much we just owe to ourselves. And interest rates are historically low, so there's no reason to be scared of borrowing. 

Tin-foil hat on.

I think the liquidity trap is by design.  The wealth gap is being driven up intentionally (or at least without objection) to enable 'the crisis'.

Tin-foil hat removed.

the crisis will be the excuse to ditch the rest of the constitution, and put the NSA/CIA/FBI/homeland security directly in charge?

Bolstering Brad's views about QE.  Figure 1 should scare the hell out you.

This is really interesting. If you have not watched it I suggest you do. It is a real eye opener. I could not find a youtube version but this works. http://dai.ly/x2df9zb

or http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2df9zb_bbc-panorama-apple-s-broken-promises_tv