Ireland Tax Haven for American Corporations

On October 19, 2013October 17, 2013 By southwerkIn Capitalism

[Howth and Ireland's Eye. County Dublin, Irela... — [Howth and Ireland’s Eye. County Dublin, Ireland] (LOC) (Photo credit: The Library of Congress)

Is it ethical to have a company in the U.S. base a subsidiary in a nation like Ireland to avoid paying taxes here? The company being discussed here is Apple. Do you suppose since they used this tax haven to pay an effective two percent tax on their profits, that perhaps they are not acting responsibly in regard to their duties? Are the roads, bridges and communications systems the company uses free or do they cost tax money? Are educated workers free or do schools have to be financed to educate them? Does the fire department, the police and the military defend Apple and all of its possessions on a charity basis?

It must enhance the profits of a company immensely to sit inside a highly developed nation with elaborate communication hubs, educational systems and complex legal protections and pay virtually nothing for any of it.

Well, if they don’t then who does? I’m sure you can make a guess, my average reader is probably paying a far higher proportion of their income in taxes than the two percent Apple wound up with.

Is that fair? Is it ethical to shirk your responsibilities to your country?

I’ve heard it said that all taxation is a form of theft. That’s an interesting theory. It conveys a certain sense of righteousness in not paying taxes because, after all, you are preventing a robbery. However, I am a great reader of history and i am unable to discover any successful civilization that did not use shared burdens to develop and maintain their nation.

James Pilant

Ireland To End ‘Stateless’ Tax Avoidance Gimmick, Leave Others Untouched

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/16/2791501/ireland-corporate-tax-change/

The scheme Noonan wishes to stop became famous this spring when a Senate investigation found that Apple had paid nearly zero taxes on around $100 billion in sales revenue. Apple’s arrangement, which even critics say is a completely legal exploitation of a poorly designed global tax system, relied upon three subsidiaries incorporated in Ireland but not “resident” there for tax purposes. Noonan said Tuesday that his budget proposal would “ensure that Irish-registered companies cannot be ‘stateless’ in terms of their place of tax residency,” adding that “we don’t want to incur any reputational damage.”

While Noonan’s move would end this particular form of tax evasion, a more common form that uses shell companies registered in Ireland will go untouched. A company can still register in Ireland but avoid paying its 12.5 percent corporate tax rate by declaring tax residence in some other country with lower corporate rates, Bloomberg reports. While Apple-style tax statelessness is relatively rare, Irish subsidiaries registering to pay taxes in Bermuda, Luxembourg, and other tax haven countries is not. Google, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, eBay, and Microsoft all use such schemes to avoid taxes by moving global revenues from points of sale to Ireland, and then from Ireland to another tax haven. Ireland’s proposal is therefore “a very small step” and “relevant only to Apple,” former Joint Committee on Taxation chief of staff Edward Kleinbard told Reuters.

From around the web.

From the web site, Venture Beat.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/22/ireland-were-no-tax-haven-but-yes-apple-did-pay-2-tax/

This is a stumper.

The head of the Irish agency designed to promote foreign investment in the country strongly denied that Ireland is a tax haven. But when questioned by Ireland’s RTE News, he could not deny that Apple has paid an effective tax rate of just two percent, much as Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) said yesterday in hearings on Capitol Hill.

Which, frankly, sounds pretty tax haven-ish.

“There is global competition, and tax happens to be one of the areas [where] Ireland competes for global investment,” IDA Ireland Chief Executive Barry O’Leary told RTE this morning.

That also sounds suspiciously like a tax haven. That’s what Senator Levin believes, as well.

“You are able to shift profits to places where you, an American company, don’t pay taxes,” Levin said yesterday to Apple CEO Tim Cook. “That is not right … that a company could shift its value to a tax haven, which is what Ireland is.”

Incredible Footage of Reusable Rocket, The Future of Space Exploration

On October 18, 2013October 17, 2013 By southwerkIn business ethics

Incredible Footage of Reusable Rocket, The Future of Space Exploration

Writing about business ethics from day to day is an excruciating experience. You are constantly bombarded by some of the worst of human behavior and lots of villains. It is similar in some sense to the cop on the beat who only sees the worst of human behavior. It pushes one toward cynicism and doubt about the human condition.

Fortunately, there are counter currents of humans at their best, humans struggling to do the right thing. Here is one of them.

Enjoy!

James Pilant

Ares I Rocket First Stage (June 2008) (Photo credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center)

From around the web.

From the web site, The Rocketry Blog. (And if you want to see more footage of this incredible vehicle – this web site has them. jp)

http://rocketry.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/latest-spacex-grasshopper-flight/

“SpaceX’s Grasshopper doubled its highest leap to date to rise 24 stories or 80.1 meters (262.8 feet) today, hovering for approximately 34 seconds and landing safely using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. Grasshopper touched down with its most accurate precision thus far on the centermost part of the launch pad. At touchdown, the thrust to weight ratio of the vehicle was greater than one, proving a key landing algorithm for Falcon 9. Today’s test was completed at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.” – SpaceX

This thing is huge so pulling this off is quite incredible and SpaceX continues to push this technology in its test. I looking forward to one day seeing the Falcon 9 return this way.

SpaceX develops vertical take-off and landing reusable rocket (markosun.wordpress.com)

Rape is Wrong

On October 17, 2013October 17, 2013 By southwerkIn Editorial

English: Stylized handcuffs. Português: Algema... — English: Stylized handcuffs. Português: Algemas estilizadas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rape is Wrong

If you go down the page you will see a article from the Huffington Post in which an attorney suggests, I suppose the best way to put it, is that in the current case of the Missouri teen, that she was to blame. This makes me very angry. Bizarrely enough, I think you shouldn’t take advantage of 14 year old girls.

I think that it is obvious that rape is wrong but it apparently in many people’s minds carries a lot of caveats. Apparently that caveated definition always begins with the phrase: “What did she expect…”, which I have been hearing now for a good thirty years. This is often followed, in no particular order – when she dressed like that, – when she got into the car with him, – when she drank that much, – when she flirted like that, – when she went to his apartment at two in the morning, etc. You can probably think of a few I missed.

Raping women is wrong. Let me throw a little radical thought your way. Rape is a crime. It is not punishment for women’s misbehavior. It is a crime for which the perpetrator should go to prison. It is not a crime of passion, it is an assertion of power by a male without character or breeding.

And let me add these little thoughts –

A gentleman does not have sex with an unconscious woman.

A gentleman does not get a woman drunk to avoid getting her consent.

A gentleman realizes that no matter how a lady is dressed, how late it is, how drunk she is, that his duty is to protect and honor, all the time, every time.

James Pilant

Joseph DiBenedetto: ‘I’m Not Saying She Deserved To Be Raped, But…’

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/17/joseph-dibenedetto-rape-missouri-teen_n_4118899.html

“What did she expect to happen at one in the morning after sneaking out?” attorney Joseph DiBenedetto said on Shephard Smith Reports. “I’m not saying — assuming that these facts are accurate and this did happen — I’m not saying she deserved to be raped, but knowing the facts as we do here including what the prosecutor has set forth, this case is going nowhere and it\’s going nowhere quick.”

Shep Smith immediately jumped in and refuted his claims.

“What you’ve done, Joseph, is taken an alleged victim of rape and turned her into a liar and a crime committer,” he said. “That’s a far jump from a 1,000 miles away.\”

via Joseph DiBenedetto: ‘I’m Not Saying She Deserved To Be Raped, But…’.

From around the web.

From the web site, Rape in the Military.

http://rapecultureinthemilitary.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/rape-in-the-military/

I call this an epidemic in our military because the numbers are staggering. It is estimated that 1 in 5 women in the military are sexually assaulted. (McDonough) A March 26 report by the Institute of Medicine said sexual assault and rape have “been occurring at high rates throughout U.S. armed forces, including the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters.” (Maze) The DOD (Department of Defense) estimated that last year around 19,000 service members are sexually assaulted each year. Thousands of our brave soldiers are being assaulted by their fellow brothers and sisters. The psychological damage of being betrayed by someone you are supposed to trust with your life has to be incredibly scarring.

The military even has a term for those who are suffering from the effects of sexual assault; it is called MST (Military Sexual Trauma). The military has reports done every year, and they have a division SAPRO (Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office) that handles policies and training around sexual assault crimes. So why are the numbers so high? “Only a small fraction of the incidents, 3,192 in 2011, are reported, and a mere 10 percent of those cases proceed to trial — hardly enough to create meaningful deterrence to criminal behavior and establish accountability.”(NYT Editorial)

I’m Beginning to Like Josh Barro

On October 17, 2013October 17, 2013 By southwerkIn Editorial

I’m Beginning to Like Josh Barro

This guy can take this kind of nonsense and instead of being hurt or offended, he turns it into informative and, in a way, defiant essay. I’m impressed.

And he has a good point, this kind of passion (hatred, rage?) is frightening. As a fellow writer, I find this kind of thing daunting but as a politician it must be far more threatening because not only do these people wield influence power in the party, encountering them personally must be an exciting and memorable experience.

James Pilant

One Look At These Emails, And You’ll See Why Republicans Let Ted Cruz Lead Them Off A Cliff

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-congressional-republicans-let-ted-cruz-lead-them-off-a-cliff-2013-10

The people whose letters I’m printing below are literally the people Republicans depend on to re-elect them to Congress. Keeping these people happy is their job — which is why the Republican Party has become so inept and crazy.

Jim Kennedy says I’m a “low information voter” in league with “the black racists”:

Senator Cruz is right on. I am one of those “crazy people” the liberal left does not like, being former Marine, a supporter of Tea Party, college graduate, member of NRA, member of Sons of Confederate Veterans. It is you low information voters and the black racists that hate us conservatives. Watch out in 2014!

William Neisser found me on Facebook and sent this frank message:

do you really believe the crap coming out of your mouth so 2 million people who think this Obama care isn’t good are wrong and living on another planet wow. life for you must be hard when did it become American to make people eat there vegetables. everyone has something to say but please stop talking your breath stinks like the crap you write come back to reality like the 2 million that are wrong an don’t like Obama’s health care academy for idiots thank you again yours truly screwed middle class living on another planet oh an have a great day

From around the web.

From the web site, The Left-handed Nib.

http://lefthandednib.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/the-gops-messiah-complex/

The GOP’s Messiah Complex

To paraphrase Dana Milbank, the Republican Party is Cruzifying itself.

Lots of good reads on Cruz in the last few days:

Josh Barro writes at Business Insider that “Ted Cruz is living on another planet” — and the Tea Party base is more than willing to hang out with him there.
This AP article is one of many I’ve seen lately that talk about how fed up establishment Republlicans are with Cruz and his Tea Party fellow crazies. But look at the establishment Republicans they’re quoting by name! …

What Moderate Republicans? Ctd (dish.andrewsullivan.com)

Buying American Un-American?

On October 16, 2013 By southwerkIn business ethics

Buying American Un-American?

No, it’s not. Buying American is patriotic, puts jobs here and honors the strong work ethic that Americans have always practiced. But Jonathan Hoenig says that buying American is Un-American. Read below for the exact quote. This is what passes for intelligent analysis on a news show?

Up is down. Black is white. What is this? If you say it long enough and often enough, does stupidity and simple nonsense become persuasive?

Oh, I get the message. What Hoenig is saying is that free market fundamentalism is the actual real American belief system and all this patriotic stuff is on a lower intellectual and thought level. I get it.

Buy American is a business ethics idea, the idea that by rewarding your fellow countrymen for their efforts you build a better nation. Free market fundamentalism is a quasi-religious movement that says we will all be happy and prosperous once we stop trying to do the right thing and chase the money.

Well, I’m not ready to give up doing the right thing. So, I’ll buy American.

James Pilant

Why does Fox “news” hate Americans? During their Saturday “business block,” Cashin’ In guest host Eric Bolling and most of his panel did their best to do an infomercial for Walmart — and to trash the protesters who have been out there demanding higher wages for their workers. And if that wasn’t bad enough, their regular, libertarian wingnut Jonathan Hoenig called the very notion of companies like Walmart buying made in America products “un-American.”

I’m not going to transcribe all of this mess, but here’s some of the worst of it, where they were blaming the protesters for Walmart deciding to expand into China, and attacking labor unions, which is their favorite sport along with attacking poor people on Faux “news” on Saturday mornings. …

(The relevant remarks below)

HOENIG: I’m actually against that Eric. I think this whole notion of buy American is actually un-American. American companies should buy the lowest quality product… excuse me, the lowest price product at the highest possible quality. If they happen to be made overseas, that’s even better. It allows Americans to save money and those resources to be more deployed, and more profitable in productive ways.

From around the web.

From the web site, Buy American Challenge.

http://buyamericanchallenge.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/new-documentary-film-asks-were-willing-to-die-for-our-country-but-are-we-willing-to-buy-for-it/

Josh Miller’s new documentary is an inspirational reminder that the words “Made in USA” still matter. While Americans from Main Street to the halls of Congress struggle to cope with our sputtering economy, Miller reminds us that the answer to reclaiming a prosperous future may lie in the long-forgotten rallying cry to “Buy American.”

As Miller demonstrates in his month-long trek across the United States, a sure-fire way to create American jobs is to stimulate demand for American-made products. While conventional wisdom once told us the jobs that left our shores would never return, as is so often the case, that conventional wisdom is now being turned on its head.

The film shows that in many industries, companies that stuck to their American-made roots are now thriving, while firms that made the decision to off-shore are realizing the advantages of sourcing from low-wage countries like China are being eaten up by rapidly increasing wages in those countries. Once you consider the other disadvantages of off-shoring, such as increased shipping costs, higher inventory costs, and extended time to get products to market, in many industries the benefits of overseas production are now being outweighed by the costs. As a consequence, America may be primed for a serious jobs recovery.

In the film, Michael Araten, CEO of the toy company K’Nex, whom Miller interviews, makes the most compelling case that the U.S. is poised for job creation in the manufacturing sector and that the Buy American Movement can help facilitate it. “What I see happening is that consumers care more and more where stuff is made; businesses react to consumers,” explains Araten. “As demand picks up for [American-made products], then [businesses] will find more ways to [fill that demand].”

The End Of Free-Market Fundamentalism? (bigpicture.typepad.com)

Josh Barro Clobbers Niall Ferguson

On October 15, 2013October 15, 2013 By southwerkIn Capitalism

Josh Barro Clobbers Niall Ferguson

In spite of our dramatically different political views, Josh Barro is beginning to grow on me. Certainly, this is just delightful, some good rhetorical punches are being thrown here!

James Pilant

Niall Ferguson uses Twitter science to prove he’s better than everyone.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/10/15/niall_ferguson_uses_twitter_science_to_prove_he_s_better_than_everyone.html

The reason Ferguson wants to talk about civility is that he can\’t talk about not being full of crap. Ferguson trades on his academic credentials to write popular articles that contain misleading and false claims. His writing causes readers to come away with a worse understanding of the economy than they entered with. He is changing the world for the worse.

My contention is not that we haven\’t been uncivil to Ferguson. We definitely have. My contention is that he deserves it.

via Niall Ferguson uses Twitter science to prove he’s better than everyone..

From around the web.

From the web site, The Inverse Square (This is a fun web site – please go visit. jp).

https://inversesquare.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/very-serious-person-niall-ferguson-haz-a-sad/

Too much to do today to go all John Foster Dulles on Harvard’s Folly, but I can’t leave this without noting that if Niall’s honestly not scared of Krugman (he is), he should be.

Cases in point here and here and here and here. This isn’t a fair fight. Ferguson has the debate chops and the accent, but nothing else. Krugman has both technical skill and the willingness to engage actual data to gut the Harvard Bully Boy on the actual merits of the argument. That Ferguson plays better on TV is his reason for being, but not a recommendation. (BTW — for a devastating synoptic view of Ferguson’s style and (lack of) substance — and his pure nastiness in the service of the 1%, check out this overview.)

The Ferg-beast attacks (noahpinionblog.blogspot.com)

Virginity Testing is Just Stupid

On October 15, 2013October 15, 2013 By southwerkIn business ethics

Virginity Testing is Just Stupid

And I can add, evil as well. My half of the human race, the male half, can sometimes be alarmingly stupid, ignorant and malicious. Pushing around young girls looking for some bizarre concept of purity is the ultimate bullying and we should know better. We might do better trying to live our lives as gentlemen and worrying less about women’s sexuality.

There is no way that taking money for testing a woman’s virginity to determine her purity is ethical in business or otherwise. It never will be. Doesn’t basic business ethics imply that you are doing something useful, something beneficial in a sense? What’s useful about testing for virginity?

The Virginity Hit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)**Where would you get that out of this?**

James Pilant

The invasive, sexist practice of “testing” girls’ virginity – Salon.com

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/14/the_invasive_sexist_practice_of_testing_girls_virginity/

Aside from the primary fact that a virginity test is evil and invasive, it’s not even accurate – as any teenager who’s ever gone horseback riding or read the instructions in a box of tampons could tell you. As ethicist and researcher Marie-Ève Bouthillier told the Gazette, to assume so “reduces virginity to a piece of skin.” Claire Faucher, an assistant clinical professor at the Université de Montréal, says that the World Health Organization considers virginity testing sexual violence against women. And Amnesty International calls it “sexual violence… akin to rape.”In far too many places in this world, a girl’s virginity is so highly prized her community is willing to sexually abuse her to try to confirm it. And though an official statement on the ethics of the practice may help curb it in some areas, it’s clear from its persistence in places where it’s not supposed to exist that it takes a lot more than saying it’s wrong to stop it. As Bouthillier notes, testing is easy to perpetuate “because it’s a taboo practice and it’s hidden.” That’s why more education and enlightenment and protections for girls need to be a serious priority in the healthcare profession, all over the world. Healthcare providers need …

via The invasive, sexist practice of “testing” girls’ virginity – Salon.com.

From around the web.

From the web site,

http://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/before-melanie-phillips-was-mad-her-role-in-uncovering-the-virginity-testing-controversy/

But I thought I’d mention that before Melanie Phillips became ‘Mad Mel’, she was a social affairs journalist for The Guardian and broke the ‘virginity testing’ story for the newspaper in 1979, as seen in this archival piece from The Guardian‘s
website. The ‘virginity testing’ controversy centred around the
gynaecological examination of a South Asian women at Heathrow when she
tried to enter the country on a fiancee visa, and soon led to a
widespread investigation into racially discriminatory practices within
the UK immigration control system (you can find out more about our
research into this here).

It is bizarre how the investigative journalist who broke this story
in 1979 has become the right-wing columnist that we know (and don’t
love) today. I wonder what she would write if the ‘virginity testing’
story broke now…

Tea Parties, Know Nothings, and Klansmen: The Enduring Specter of American Nativism

On October 15, 2013October 15, 2013 By southwerkIn Editorial

This is a great web site, witty, irreverant and well written. You should add this site to your favorites.

James Pilant

Eric Idle on the Shutdown

On October 15, 2013October 15, 2013 By southwerkIn Editorial

Eric Idle on the Shutdown

I think the coming default is a totally irresponsible act, an extra-constitutional effort to take power when elections failed to deliver. It is apparent that this act us making the nation looks ridiculous from the virtually any rational viewpoint. You would think simple patriotism would deter people from plunging the nation into chaos, but that is not the case.

James Pilant

America the Half Beautiful / Eric Idle

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-idle/america-the-half-beautiful_b_4099243.html

The Mad Haters Tea Party throws everything overboard, not just the tea. The captain, the crew, the ships dog… Pirates could hardly do worse.It seems especially perverse that people purporting to be Christian, a religion that vows to help the poor and heal the sick, should be so violently against helping the poor and healing the sick. Followers of a religion that preaches forgiveness and turning the other cheek, demand the right for the outright insane to own more and more weapons. Nuts, Im afraid.Now some people get very angry when a non-American like me dares to talk about America. \”Well, piss off then, go somewhere else,\” they say. Forgetting that we who live amongst you are the ones who like you the most, and if you dont listen to what we think, then the ostrichisation of America will continue. Bend over, head in sand, hand on heart, salute flag.The great thing about America has always been your ability to rally round in difficult times, especially under attack and create new solutions to modern problems. Of your current state the Founding Fathers would be horrified and terrified. Nobody asked the Mothers. You may need to re-evaluate. The Constitution may need updating. Its not the Bible. Then, neither is the Bible.We need you to prosper. You can rule the world, or you can ruin it. Time to wake up.

via America the Half Beautiful | Eric Idle.

From around the web.

From the web site, Conrad Brunstrom.

http://conradbrunstrom.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/shutting-down/

The shutdown is the work of the people who failed win their argument
through the acknowledged channels of government and are therefore
prepared to pull the plug on government rather than wait and win the
elections needed to reopen political and legislative debate. Of course,
this has happened a number of times before, though this is the first
time this century. It is able to happen because of a register of
patriotic rhetoric that sees “government” as something to restrain
rather than something to use positively. In the USA, many politicians
use the word “Washington” in the same way that Eurosceptic British
politicians use the word “Brussels” – as a synonym for something that
must be resisted at all costs.

This kind of defiance of federal government authority was first
tested in the 1830s – during the South Carolina nullification crisis. It
was subsequently tested in 1860, resulting in more than 600,000 deaths.

Six silly hats (when is it OK the mock stuff you think is daft?) (educationechochamber.wordpress.com)

The Real West From the Smithsonian

On October 14, 2013 By southwerkIn Editorial1 Comment

True Grit (2010 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a documentary about the factual side of the novel, True Grit, and its two movie versions. I found it illuminating and I think you’ll enjoy it as well.

In America, we often assume that in the past was a nation of bedrock religious belief, hardworking, nose to the grindstone solid citizens and just general goodness. It wasn’t like that. It was messy and cruel – and for much of American history, religious beliefs were simply not that big a deal. Lincoln, for instance, was elected in spite of the fact, he was not a church goer, did not believe in life after death and possessed many other beliefs disturbing to the religious minded. Robert Ingersoll stood a good chance of being elected to the Presidency in spite of the fact, he is also known as the “Great Agnostic.” Don’t believe me – look these things up – find that reality that is American history.

Here’s my promise: if you study American history in detail and with a determination to understand from the point of view of a regular citizen, you will find a complex story full of sex, scandal and intrigue; and you will also find an incredible saga of courage and determination to build a nation unlike any other. I promise you that will love this country more as you work to understand it.

James Pilant

From around the web.

From the web site,

http://jameswharris.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/true-grit-by-charles-portisbook-versus-movies/

I can’t recommend reading the novel highly enough – both films fail to
capture much of the story, although because it’s a short book with vivid
dialog, both do follow it faithfully far better than Hollywood usually
follows an original novel. The novel is dense with fictional details
that just don’t come out in the movies. Also, the novel is all about
the voice of Mattie Ross, and neither movie captures that. Movie makers
consider voice over narration the kiss of death, but I wish they could
have put more of book Mattie’s thinking into movie Mattie’s
performance. And strangely Portis sense of the dramatic appears
superior to each set of movie makers because when each film diverts from
his plotting and scene setup they suffer. Portis had a keen sense of
plotting and drama that both films wisely copy fairly thoroughly.

Contract Issues in True Grit (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
The Big Read (lasliterati.wordpress.com)
True Grit (2010) (americancultureclub.wordpress.com)
Transcending between time and space (screensplvs3200.wordpress.com)

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From the web site, Rape in the Military.

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One Look At These Emails, And You’ll See Why Republicans Let Ted Cruz Lead Them Off A Cliff

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