I want THEIR tax guy....

Several news sources reported over the weekend that the most valuable, most profitable company in the world, Apple, is a tax-paying lightweight.  Or to put it another way, Apple is a tax-avoiding heavyweight.  


Last year Apple had profits of $34.2B dollars, yet paid only $3.3B in taxes.  That's a rate of just 9.8%, which is 1/3 less than the average corporate tax paid by other Fortune 500 companies.  By comparison, Walmart paid a rate of over 24% in corporate income tax.


And it's all perfectly legal.  How'd they do it?  By claiming that most of their profits were made by Apple entities located in foreign, low-tax places such as Ireland, the Netherlands, and various post office boxes in the Caribbean.  US taxes are paid based on where "value is created".  If you were making cars or appliances or almost any other tangible product, the place where the factory is located would be where "value is created" and that's where taxes would be paid.  But with intangibles like patent royalties and intellectual property that can be pretty much anywhere they want it to be.  That's why 70% of Apple's profits are made *wink* outside the US.


I don't blame Apple or any other company who takes advantage of this gaping tax loophole.   I blame our congress who created it and does absolutely nothing to fix it.  But with a TRILLION dollar deficit why wouldn't they at least try, you ask? 

Simple....campaign contributions, aka legal bribes.  "Big Bidness" likes our tax system juuuuuust the way it is, thank you very much....subsidies, loopholes and all.  And they make lots of "contributions" to make sure it stays that way.  (And BTW...they're "legal" bribes only because those receiving the bribes are the same ones who get to define "legal".  Pretty sweet, huh?)

S

Does "fairness" take sides?

"If the minimum wage had kept pace with the rise in executive salaries since 1990, America's poorest paid workers would today be making more than $23 an hour."

I'm not suggesting the minimum wage should be $23 an hour.  If that were the case we'd never export anything and we'd be covered up with ridiculously cheap imports....which would mean maybe 2 guys would be making $23 an hour and the rest of us would be unemployed.  What I am suggesting is that executives make too much.

How do you maximize profits?  It's easy.  Make people work twice as hard for less pay.  Look around you....that's how business works today.  They cut staffing, increasing everyone else's workload, yet raises (if there are any) barely cover inflation.  Raises for everyone, that is, except the executives.  I don't see this as a liberal / conservative / socialist / capitalist issue.  To me it's just a matter of fairness.  Does "fairness" take sides?

Pendulums swing both ways, you know.   

S

Narcissists Of The Day

Did you hear about this?....At a recent Texas Rangers / NY Yankees game a Ranger player (don't know which one as they all look alike to me) tossed a ball up into the stands behind their dugout.  An adult couple grabbed the ball instead of the little kid sitting next to them who was presumably who the toss was aimed for.

Of course the kid was crying his little eyes out while the couple claimed "they never saw / heard the kid."  Dude, you didn't see him?  Really? He's right off your left shoulder.  Yeah, THAT kid.  This isn't a ball from Game 7 of the World Series.  It's just a baseball.  Give the kid the ball!

And to twist things around they're upset with one of the announcers who called them out and they're demanding an apology.  Sheesh....some people!

S

Do I have "sucker" written across my forehead?

I dropped my car off yesterday evening to have a new timing belt / water pump / coolant and all the tensioners and pulleys that go with it installed.  It's just routine preventive maintenance, but my car is in great shape and I want to keep it that way.  The frustrating part of this was the comparison price shopping beforehand.

I called two Audi dealers and a private mechanic I've used for 20+ years.  The private guy wanted $1,000, the dealers between $1,400 and $1,500.  Because of the difference I thought I'd better check them again, so I went to one of the dealers (Boardwalk Audi) and had them re-price it while I waited.  Their $1,400 over-the-phone quote was now $2,050.  Huh? ("May we schedule an appointment for you, Mr. Sucker?")   My private mechanic was still $1,000, so he got the work.  He promises the parts are all new Audi OEM parts and I believe him.


I hate people (well...not really "hate"...let's go with "don't like") who play games with me.  I don't trust them.  That dealer lost all credibility with me, and I won't consider them again for service or another new Audi purchase.  Why do they do that?  There's no need for it.  Apparently no one today (except my private mechanic) wants to settle for making a reasonable profit.  They're all greedy.  They need to take the advice my dad gave me years ago:  "A fast nickel is better than a slow dime."  They need to think long-term.


That's what I think.


S

Life is like a giant game of pinball

Before the advent of video games all we had were pinball machines.  Anyone remember those?

A steel ball would come out of the top, roll downhill, and along the way bounce off little bumpers and occasionally, if you were lucky, you could flip it back up onto the board for another downhill roll and more points.  It was a game of hit and miss.

I sometimes think the life we're living today is just like a giant game of pinball and we're the little balls that get bounced around. Whether you succeed or fail is to a great extent outside your control....you can only jostle the table so much before it screams TILT and the game is over. 

There was a time when we all thought we could plan for our own futures.  (How do you make God laugh?  Tell Him you have a "plan".)  A good education, ambition, hard work, and eventually a 30-year gold watch and your golden years spent fishing....that's the way life worked.  What happened to those days? 

I think The Greatest Generation, provided they survived the Great Depression and World War II, hit it just right.  After the war times were good, jobs generally stable, careers were for the long-term, and retirements were pleasantly comfortable (a relative term).  For my generation though, retirement is a crap shoot.  Our 401(k)'s have both soared and crashed-and-burned.  I'm still waiting to see where I'll land.  I'm not optimistic.

Meanwhile, those who deserve it the least seem to have fared the best.  I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but I don't see it.

S

We are such suckers!

I see the US Government has reached an agreement with Afghanistan that calls for us to continue financially supporting them for 10 years after we cease combat operations there, which means through 2024.  Or as Afghan President Hamid Karzai sees it, his personal 401(k) will be funded through 2024.  Lavishly funded.  Highway robbery funded.


So Microsoft buys a bunch of patents from AOL (aka Dead Man Walking) for a cool Billion Bucks, then turns around and sells the majority of those to Facebook for $550M.  Is it just me or does this deal smell?  I don't have a Facebook account, never have, never will.  Something about this Zuckerberg guy bothers me.  From what I've read a lot of people are becoming dissatisfied with his Facebook, too.  I'm thinking his innocent looking kid-next-door face belies evil genius intentions.  Wonder where this is going?


Speaking of Microsoft....It seems hackers have infected a network of more than a half million computers worldwide by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system to install malware on the victim computers.  You can go here to see if your computer is affected.  I don't know diddlysquat about computers, but this has just made me realize once again how much I LOVE my iMac. Apple rocks!


Four days until the weekend.  Hang on.  :)


S

Some days you're the windshield....

....some days you're the bug.

For some reason me and the electric companies don't see eye-to-eye.  I think we're on two different wave lengths.  Remember last month I was locked in mortal combat with TXU Energy over what I felt was a gross overcharge?  Turns out I was right and they issued me a $123 credit.  Saturday I received my first bill from my new electric provider, Reliant Energy, and my bill was $85.49 including a $9.95 base charge, making for a bottom line of $.099 per kWh.

Hold on there Kemosabe!  I have it in writing I pay NO base charge and my per kWh price should be $.084.  Then I saw the fine print (literally) on my Terms of Service agreement that said, "$9.95 base rate if monthly consumption is less than 800 kWh."  My consumption was 798 kWh. 

Those extra 2 measly kWh would have cost me 17 cents, but instead I now have a base charge of nearly ten bucks.   Looks like my "luck" quotient is below zero this week.  I doubt I'll be wasting any money buying lottery tickets.  ;)

S