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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
If Obama is a socialist who hates capitalism, then why is he trying so hard to prop it up?
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I think a person can be a socialist and not hate capitalism.
but that aside, I think Obama is confused. Not in the way that would imply he lacks intelligence, but in the way that his positions on issues lack clarity. He tries to hard to try to be everything to everyone. so we end up with half assed positions. It seems to me that by nature he is a socialist, but he often tries to pretend that he is not. I am a capitalist and I have no shame with that. If Obama is a socialist why isn't he o.k. with it?
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Closing loopholes such as these does many things. For one, it helps separate those companies who are actually in the business of finding, serving, and keeping customers from those who are blinded by the profit chase.
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To be clear corporations pass increased costs on to consumers. If a company like Intel is using the Cayman Islands as a base for one of its subsidiary companies in order to reduce costs and to remain competitive with international competition, and then they are faced with increased costs what are the posible outcomes?
One possibility, they become less competitive and loose market share. They make less profits, invest less in R&D, employ fewer people, and pay less in taxes to the US.
---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 PM ----------
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Originally Posted by ratbastid
You failed your poli-sci final, didn't you?
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No.
---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 PM ----------
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Originally Posted by pan6467
I have stated elsewhere that I believe the US should tax companies doing business here and enforce the same workers rights and federal regulations on companies overseas that do business here. This could be the start.
And before someone says that's "socialism".... no, because A) you do not have to do business in our country, B) it helps prevent companies from taking jobs from our country for cheaper labor and giving them to countries with no civil rights, workers living in squalor and child labor and C) it helps show that Capitalism and the free market (with some regulation) works better than any other system for ALL PEOPLES. This would increase a middle class and raise the standard of living in many countries thus opening more markets thus providing more profit in the long run.
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No matter how you cut it up in the end, people pay taxes. Corporations may be the conduit, but the costs will be passed on to consumers. In my view I think we would want US based companies with US shareholders/stakeholders (paying taxes on the income passed on to them) to be as strong and as competitive as possible making the US taxpayer able to support paying US taxes as US citizens.
---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------
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Originally Posted by FuglyStick
If nothing else, it may provide the incentive for those businesses to keep those jobs in the US, even if the tax generated is nominal.
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Often the reason a company has an offshore entity is because they generate offshore income and reinvest some of that income in their growth offshore. To suggest that a company like Coca-cola is unpatriotic because they have offshore companies and employ people in other countries seems wrong in my view.
---------- Post added at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------
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Originally Posted by Cynosure
That's from the same political rhetoric book as "trickle-down economics", isn't it?  |
Sort of. Remember some person or entity has to be making some good coin if they are going to hire people and pay livable wages.
---------- Post added at 04:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 PM ----------
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Originally Posted by roachboy
unless nation-states want to find themselves entirely impotent before capital flows that they imagine are like water, they have to start going after stuff like this. whether the obama administration can deal with the whining from the corporate sector and their political allies is at this point up in the air--but the move to clamp down on this kind of officially sanctioned tax evasion is global, so it's really just a matter of time.
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Yea, countries like France are licking their chops wanting to see US based companies become weakened or to choose to put their capital in France. In a country like France the tide is turning back to becoming more corporate friendly. They have seen the damage that making corporations the enemy can cause.