I think I would make a fine King

Here is the new King of the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander, shown with his mother, Queen Beatrix, who officially abdicated her throne yesterday so her son could have a go at it.  The papers said for years there had been some quiet concerns that Willem-Alexander, who was seen as a bit lazy, wouldn't be up to the rigors of being a reigning monarch. 

Come to think of it I do sorta see the resemblance.

Somebody help me out here....what exactly does a Dutch King do?  I'm thinking maybe attend a few ribbon cuttings, dedicate the reclamation of another few acres from the North Sea now and then, officially declare the opening of Tulip Week, make a trip to the airport every once in a while when a VIP comes through....what else? 

If it turns out Willem can't hack it, I'm available.  ;)

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When the temperature starts creeping up, and when I see Home Depot ads like this ^ , I remember why I'm a home builder living in an apartment.  And that's just page one.

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Some days I think it's probably a curse to have a logical mind. Every day I see and hear things and I wonder, "What were they thinking?"  I spend so much time shaking my head in disbelief I'm afraid I'll someday give myself a whiplash.

S

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