Here It Comes: Democrats Considering "Tax Repatriation Holiday" Economic Massacre

Here comes the headless horseman cavalry:

• SCHUMER SAYS SENATE DEMOCRATS WEIGH TAX REPATRIATION HOLIDAY
• SCHUMER WOULD USE REVENUE FROM HOLIDAY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE JOBS

How the second sound bite makes any sense, we will need to ask someone with a full frontal lobotomy. What revenue? Where it is coming from? Doesn't Schumer have some Chinese currency manipulation bill he has to be submitting to Senate for the n^th time instead of boosting multinational EPS through buybacks, while killing even more US jobs? Luckily it was just yesterday that we discussed that this whole process will do nothing at all to boost jobs as captured best by
Kristin J. Forbes, an MIT economics professor who was on the Bush team
back when the Homeland Investment Act in 2005 was enacted, who said: "For every dollar that was brought back, there were zero cents used for additional capital expenditures, research and development, or hiring and employees wages." Another economic disaster in the making, brought to you by the clueless captain of this country.

Full post from yesterday on this very topic:

The Lost Cause That Is Tax Repatriation, Or The Folly Of The Homeland Investment Act Part 2

Just like back in January when rumors of tax repatriation holiday
started creeping up, the past week has seen a surge in speculation that
the Homeland Investment Act part 2 may be coming back. Unfortunately,
neither now, nor in January, nor during the original HIA back in 2005,
did this tax repatriation of billions in cash do absolutely anything to
stimulate the economy, and in fact the waves of layoffs that followed
likely added to the weakness that would become apparent with the
December 2007 transition into the Second Great Depression. Yet that will
not stop big multinational companies from lobbying for this one time
gift which will allows management teams to buy back shares, and lock in
individual profits on their insider holdings (certainly expect an unseen
wave of insider selling in the aftermath of a HIA 2 should one be
implemented). As for the economic rationale, there is none. We discussed
this back in January and February extensively, but for hose who may
have forgotten, here is a good recap courtesy of David Rosenberg's
latest leter to clients.

Tax Breaks for Companies

At
a time when nearly half of the ranks of the unemployed have been
looking for work fruitlessly for at least six months, and a time when
they are about to lose their long-term jobless benefits, it is amazing
to see so many folks out there calling for the White House to stimulate
the economy by allowing businesses a form of tax holiday to bring home
their locked-up profits from abroad. This is being touted as a low-cost
scheme to get the economy moving (the NYT had a good article on this
proposed strategy yesterday).

First off, the major contributors
to employment are small businesses, and they don't have locked up
earnings abroad — they are paying their 35% top marginal rate rather
than avoiding it. Second, the Bush team tried this gimmick in 2005 with
absolutely no impact on capital spending or employment growth, though it
sure did help out on the stock buyback programs and divided payouts. So
would it be good for the stock market? Very likely. But a lot of this
locked-up cash sitting abroad is centered in the pharma industry and as
such it was nifty to see how the NYT tracked what Merck did with the
$15.9 billion it brought home back in 2005 — "according to regulatory
filings, though, the company cut its work force and capital spending in
this country in the three years that followed."

Here is what
Kristin J. Forbes, an MIT economics professor who was on the Bush team
back then (and led a study by the NBER showing there to be little impact
outside of helping reduce the deficit temporarily) said on the matter:

"For
every dollar that was brought back, there were zero cents used for
additional capital expenditures, research and development, or hiring and
employees wages."

Quite an admission of failure. It
does stand to reason as to why such a policy today would have any impact
since this is not exactly a business sector that is starving for
liquithty as it is.

And below we repost some of the salient points from Citi's Steven Englander who essentially said the same thing 6 months ago:

HIA-2 under discussion

• HIA
  is attractive as a way of reducing effective corporate taxes
  temporarily and improving the tone of the US corporate sector, but the
  direct impact on investment and employment appears limited
• The total flows are likely to be much higher than in 2005
• The non-USD share is less certain but may be somewhat lower
• Central banks may see this as a golden opportunity to diversify

A
renewed program to allow repatriation of foreign profits at favourable
tax rates is again under discussion in the context of broader corporate
tax reform. Proponents argue that it provides inexpensive stimulus to
the US economy at a limited budget cost. Opponents argue that it
provides few practical benefits; rather it creates incentives to keep
earnings abroad in anticipation of subsequent rounds of HIA (Homeland
Investment Act – the actual name of the bill was the American Jobs
Creation Act of 2004, but we will use HIA-1 to refer to the 2004 bill
and HIA-2 to refer to any prospective 2011 measure).

And the pros and cons:

The disadvantages:

1. In
   2005, HIA-1 delivered much less in direct employment and investment
   than promised. For example, see “Tax Incentives and Domestic Investment:
   An Empirical Analysis of the Repatriation Decisions of U.S.
   Multinational Corporations Following the Implementation of the Homeland
   Investment Act of 2004” Michaele L. Morrow, Ph.D,. Dissertation, Texas
   tech University, May 2008, or “Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The
   Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act “ J Dhammika
   Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes, Journal of Finance,
   forthcoming (2011).
2. Under HIA-1, the incentives to increase
   employment and investment were limited. The major impact of HIA-1 was to
   allow foreign earnings to be repatriated at low tax rates, with few
   binding additional requirements. From firm’s point of view, HIA-1 was
   equivalent to a lump-sum tax benefit which would generate additional
   investment and employment primarily in cases in which firms had
   restricted access to credit markets. Firms with large amounts of profits
   abroad probably could borrow domestically for hiring or capital
   expansion so would not have been constrained in their prior investment
   decisions.
3. Crafting a bill that increases direct marginal
   incentives for employment and investment is difficult. If the
   requirements are too stringent, firms will simply pass on repatriation.
   If firms are already unconstrained with respect to hiring and
   investment, a marginal increase may bring forward investment plans into
   2011, with some payback in subsequent years. If the terms are relatively
   lax, as in HIA-1, the impact on direct employment and investment will
   be small.
4. The firms that have the money abroad (tech, pharma)
   are not the sectors that need the most balance sheet help (households,
   real estate, state and local government) nor does it help firms whose
   operations are primarily domestic.
5. Repeating HIA produces
   incentives for firms to keep funds abroad. There is the risk that firms
   will see HIA as a once or twice a decade low-tax repatriation
   opportunity. The extent of these incentives depends on the gap between
   US domestic and foreign tax rates. The combined effect of HIA plus a
   reduction in US corporate rates would largely mitigate these incentives.
   Surprisingly, BEA data suggests that until the possibility for HIA-2
   emerged again in early 2009, the aggregate dividend repatriation rate
   was not much lower than it had been prior to HIA-1(Figure 1), and the
   low repatriation since 2009 could also reflect limited US investment
   possibilities.

The advantages:

1. HIA-2
   presents an opportunity for the Obama Administration to demonstrate its
   commitment toward a more business friendly approach to an important
   constituency.
2. HIA-2 eases access to funds that are viewed as
   locked abroad to some degree. A corporate tax system that encourages
   firms to keep cash abroad while borrowing domestically is arguably less
   than optimal.
3. The sums involved are substantial. There are
   estimates of up to USD 1 trn kept abroad - roughly half the cash
   currently held by US corporates. Data from the BEA shows USD1.2 trn of
   un-repatriated earnings since 2006, significantly more than had been
   accumulated over the 1990-2004 period (Figure 2).
4. The tax
   costing can be relatively benign because the low tax rate is largely
   offset by the increase in flows. The repatriation flows in response to
   the lower corporate tax rate are so high that they largely pay for
   themselves (in subsequent years, costing depends on how much flows are
   expected to be reduced by anticipation of future HIA)
5. In
   contrast to 2005, improving balance sheets and financial statements is
   higher on the list of policy priorities. One of the Fed’s stated
   objectives in QE2 was improving the attractiveness of other asset
   markets relative to the bond market, so in 2011, balance sheet
   improvement can be viewed as a macroeconomic policy goal.
6. 2005
   was one of the best years of the decade in terms of asset markets and
   growth so indirect effects may have been large. It is hard to pin down
   these indirect effects (and obviously there were broader macroeconomic
   forces at play) but 2005 was a year of strong employment and investment
   growth (Figure 3), a strong USD, and sharply revised expectations of how
   quickly the Fed could normalize rates. From the time the bill was
   passed in late 2004 till the end of 2005, expectations of Dec 2005 short
   rates rose from just over 3% to 4.5% (Figure 4).
7. No one’s ox is
   gored, at least not directly. It is difficult to craft a stimulus
   package that is relatively cheap in budget terms and which provides
   broad stimulus and that does not carry a well-defined set of losers.
   Especially if combined with broader corporate tax reform that narrows
   the gap between US and foreign corporate tax rates, HIA-2 may be viewed
   as more attractive and practical than other more theoretically
   attractive stimulus measures.

Lastly, for all those who believe that HIA 2 will be an unequivocal benefit for the S&P, this piece by Goldman Sachs from January
reminds that the biggest impact from all that fund flow will likely
serve as a major catalyst for USD strength. Recall that nothing in the
current centrally planned market is more important than the weakness of
the USD. If indeed, the HIA 2 is contemplated as a short-term boost to
the S&P, will it backfire even with that modest purpose of making
the mega rich even richer? Goldman seems to think so.

Comments

[alien-IQ]

redefining "stupid" one sound bite at a time.

[bigdumbnugly]

schumer needs an exorcism.  pronto.

[mkkby]

It's less than 0 jobs -- it's a loss.  Why?  Because it puts small/medium sized businesses at an even greater structural disadvantage.  Every one of them should close or relocate to Bermuda immediately.

And why would any company do business on shore and pay 35% taxes, when they can go off shore and pay 5%?

The money will go toward executive bonuses for the "great" work they did lobbying for this.

[Antarctico]

It's not stupid, it's advanced.

[GetZeeGold]

And you thought Idiocracy was just a movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vw2CrY9Igs&feature=related

[TruthInSunshine]

OT:

This is ex-Reagan Budget Director David Stockman on the Dylan Ratigan show today talking about failure of Bernanke, QE1 & 2, etc., and the Greatest Heist ever by Wall Street from Main Street, and is EPIC.

Tyler - can you please make this a separate article with video?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#43500720

[b-rad-is-rad]

Thanks for the link. Good stuff.

[Bay of Pigs]

TIS,

I was pretty harsh on Stockman on a different thread awhile back. I thought he was just trying to deflect his own involvement in the Reagan Admistration's disgraceful budget deficit issues. 

But after watching that, let's just say I am happy to see him teeing off on the Wall St. crime syndicate and he has my support on that going forward.

[TruthInSunshine]

b-rad & BayofPigs -

Can either of you email that link and note to Tyler with the video link to Zero Hedge at [e-mail]?

My persona non grata email is down at present.

BayofPigs - I was similarly harsh on Stockman when he spoke of the debt ceiling issue, but he really summed up the failure that is Bernanke and the kleptocracy Bernanke, Paulson and Geithner have empowered, as well as or better than anyone else I've heard speak in such a short period of time.

Thanks guys.

[Bay of Pigs]

TIS, I did send that in for you.

[TruthInSunshine]

Thank you, broseph.

[Antarctico]

It's got what plants crave!

[GetZeeGold]

Electrolytes seem to be the answer here.

[grimey]

I think he meant he would buy himself a new car

[TruthInSunshine]

Chucky Schumer IS Wall Street's representative.

He is their man, 100% of the time, Johnny on the SPOT.

It all makes sense.

[sitenine]

Ah yes, the idiot begets idiot theory.

[firefighter302]

+1 Yes Yes !

[chancee]

Yes, in case anyone is wondering, the market is being propped up by SPY right now to prevent a washout into the close.

[Rodent Freikorps]

Strangely, despite being a Democrat, Schumer is the cum sucking errand boy of the big banks.

Look at his record. I dare you.

He is the reason, I will stand aside if you pogrom the Jews. If they are stupid enough to support this walking pile of human excrement, you can have them.

However, if you go after Israel, I'd still be happy to shoot you in the face.

[TruthInSunshine]

How is it strange that any Democrat, whether Schumer or someone else, is an "errand boy" for the banks and Wall Street?

Americans need to wake their asses up, but it will take a far nastier depression to motivate them, if anything is ever able to.

Obama was given far more $$$ than McCain was in campaign contributions by the Wall Street Gang and Banking Lobby, and man, that was money extremely well spent from a ROI perspective.

[Rodent Freikorps]

And Shillary, and Weiner.

I am God damned sick of being ruled by NYC.

[equity_momo]

Wake the fuck up son , you arent being ruled by anyone from NY - these people are stooges. Theyre whores. You gotta step back from the trees to see the forest. Wall St?

 These cocksuckers dont care what City Wall St is in , the raping of dumb peons can be instructed from anywhere. Theres as much pain dished out from London for the average dumb Yanky Doodle as there is from NYC. Weiner? Please. No one gives or gave a fuck. Hillary? Shes just another wannabe Zionist doing as shes told.

[Iriestx]

You're naive if you think this is a problem that can be resolved by voting for either of the two parties.

[IdioTsincracY]

The premise of a repatriation holiday is that the money brought back will be invested domestically and create jobs. However, corporations used the money from a 2004 repatriation holiday to enrich their executives, not expand U.S. operations. In fact, the companies that benefited most from that 2004 tax break wound up cutting thousands of jobs over the subsequent few years.

But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from calling for a repeat performance. House Republicans have proposed a repatriation holiday that would have corporations pay a 5.25 percent tax rate on any money they repatriate (instead of the statutory 35 percent rate). And the idea evidently has the support of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), who appeared on CNBC today. He not only endorsed a repatriation holiday, but said we should permanently allow corporations to repatriate money at a lower tax rate:

It’s a good idea. We ought to have it every day. Instead of having repatriation every seven years, let’s have it every single day by going to a different system.

Of course, permanently allowing corporations to repatriate money at a lower rate would create all sorts of perverse incentives to first send money offshore for purely tax purposes and then bring it back later. But Ryan may also have been endorsing the move to what’s known as a territorial tax system. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has called for such a system, which, as Citizens for Tax Justice noted, would promote the permanent offshoring of U.S. jobs and funds.

Already, the prospect of repeated tax holidays has encouraged corporations to move assets offshore. According to research done at Northwestern University, following the 2004 tax holiday, corporations moved more money offshore in anticipation of another tax holiday, and “by the end of 2006 the total ‘permanently’ reinvested abroad had exceeded the 2004 peak.” The Joint Economic Committee estimated that a repatriation holiday would cost the U.S. nearly $80 billion over 10 years.

[Iriestx]

You're a sucker, being played by the big boys that wholly own and control both parties.  Choice is an illusion.

R vs D is the biggest joke in the world, and the idiots that buy into that false dichotomy have to be dumb as shit.

[Rodent Freikorps]

That is why I'm voting the Hawt Party from now on.

[Tense INDIAN]

nifty update :::

http://markettechnicals-jonak.blogspot.com/

[Tense INDIAN]

nifty update :::

http://markettechnicals-jonak.blogspot.com/

[lizzy36]

Obama may win in 2012. NOT because of the job he has done.

Winning because the other team fields a crappy candidate can't be declared a victory.

Full disclosure, I hate the game. Which mean i am neither a democrat or a republican.

Although i will consider purchasing a palin/god 2012 bumper sticker

[alien-IQ]

I would love to see Sara Palin run with Ron Jeremy as her VP. Not for any political reasons mind you, just for the sheer comedic joy of it.

[Rodent Freikorps]

I have had a bad experience voting for the lesser evil. I've voted that way all my life, and things only suck more.

If the Rs put forth a female candidate, I'll vote for her.

Fuck you if you disagree. I could give a shit what you think.

[alien-IQ]

your post is hilarious on so many levels.

[Rodent Freikorps]

How's hope and change working out for you?

I'm voting for hot females from now on.

Couldn't be worse.

[Antarctico]

You go to town on that. At this point in the game, it really doesn't matter one whit who gets elected.  Domestically, expansion of the police state will continue, internationally Neo-Con foreign policy at the point of a gun will continue, and every where you choose to look, riches will continued to be extracted from the poor and middle class and funnled up to the criminals at the top of our world pyramid of suck.  Fuck it -- if Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann gets elected president, we can knock out that glass ceiling, plus the comedy will be awesome and unending.  If the world has to burn, I want to at least get a few laughs out of it.

[Rodent Freikorps]

Historically, the guns have been used by the useful idiots of the Left.

That is why I have come to hate all who push social Liberalism all the way to the point of self-destruction.

The young will kill the old because they have been well programmed by the social liberals who run the educational system, Hollywood, and most media.

They will win and bring the holocaust of communism.

It makes you want to cry.

I'm not very fond of American Catholics at the moment either. Social Liberals destroy their society the way cancer kill the body.

[Vic Vinegar]

holocaust of communism...I like the way you turn a phrase.

Other than that you are far too crabby today.  Turn that frown upside down :-)

[Rodent Freikorps]

I'm doing rum today to honor WheresTheRum, bitch goddess.

Rum makes me morose.

[Antarctico]

I am personally past the whole left vs. right thing as both sides have been so fully corrupted that all distinctions between them are meaningless -- both sides get their treasure and take their marching orders from the same globalist kleptocrats.  Regarding communism vs. fascism, these terms are ultimately indistinguishable from each other as, trappings and jingoisms aside, when fully expressed both ideologies devolve into their base "ism" which is totalitarianism.  As for crying, I'm all cried out, now I bounce between being sick to my stomach and livid anger.  Just for fun, whenever I visit our National Mall, I like to drop by the Jefferson Memorial, stare at his statue, read the words on the interior walls, and feel really, really awful about how things have worked out.  OK I confess, these little visits to mourn do get my eyes on the shiny side.

[Vic Vinegar]

both sides get their treasure and take their marching orders from the same globalist kleptocrats. ...yes.

Look at the world as being like a Klondike bar: a thin layer of chocolate (representing fascism and a move to global gov't) that covers a larger vanilla portion (representing the larger portion of people who get to live this socialism).

[Antarctico]

Dude, don't go trying to ruin Klondike bars for me! ;)

[Shell Game]

Americans haven't paid attention to history for quite some time.  Idealists always forget the unintended consequences of idealism and repeat old mistakes.   Fuck 'em and the holocaust they'll ride in on.

I found a little inspiration today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tiKM4fxY1U

I wouldn't mind getting lost in those Smoky Mts...

[Rodent Freikorps]

I hate the idea of getting old:

March of Cambreadth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFi7bWkyRpA

[Shell Game]

'Hope I die before I get old..'

Great clip.

[brew]

We get the government we deserve. Don’t get mad at the politicians! It’s our fault. We elected them. We should get rid of this phony two-party “democracy.” 

The two-party system made simple:

Two worthless dipshits are on the ballot.

If you vote for one of them, a worthless dipshit will win.

If you don’t vote, a worthless dipshit will win.

It’s a pretty unappealing sales pitch. How did it last 200 years?

[NotApplicable]

Because one of the dipshits appears scarier than the other in regards to the [distracting polarizing social issue of the moment], making this THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION EVER!!!1!!11

[NotApplicable]

So, things will suck less if you vote for the more evil candidate?

Actually, I agree, as it brings more of the lies out into the open. It was the one and only reason I preferred the Manchurian Obama to the Manchurian McCain, as it shut-up the "Anybody But Bush" crowd for a while, as they feasted upon "hope and change" flavored crow.

Not that it matter's though, thanks to cognitive dissonance. Now they believe they actually asked for the crow.

[brew]

two party system has divided this country long enough.  direct democracy is much needed.  kick em all out...

[Nathan Muir]

No, No, No!  We are a Republic for a reason - "direct democracies" ALWAYS morph into tyrannical states over time.  The sheeple are ALWAYS tricked into voting away their freedom/rights/liberty. 

I am for kicking them all out, but only if we follow that with a harsh punishment like public hangings.  Punishment for ignoring the constitution.  That precendent would set things straight for a couple centuries, then repeat.

[equity_momo]

Youve made Schumer look smart today.

[SRV - ES339]

Never work... I hear Ron likes to read!

[DosZap]

No huge fan of anyone at present, but do you actually think Palin(yes Palin) could have done any worse, than the Kenyanridgerunner we have been SUCKED dry by for 3+yrs?.

For one, the Patriot Act would not have re-signed as is,and the Constitution would damn sure have been paid attention to instead of run over by a Mack Truck.( Her constituents would have demanded it).

Also, the QE shit?.......would have stopped long ago,and we sure would not have a 4T debt staring us in the face.

At least we KNOW she loves this country........the other SOB, is happier in the ME 57 states.

I'll take a semi intelligent(over a self serving nitwit/America hater) Patriot for POTUS over a socialist/fascist any day.

[TruthInSunshine]

Meh.

If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Palin = Barney Frank.

When is this false choice paradigm that's been spun into the literal Matrix of 'you have real choices between those with an (R) or (D) next to their names' bullshit going to end?

Please tell me how I'm wrong? Scratch that.

Please provide any scinitilla of convincing evidence as to how my claim that Rs and Ds don't really work for the same people, pushing the same large framework goals, with some social/wedge and other distracting 'differences' thrown into the mixing bowl in just the right proportion to fool the sheeple?

With maybe 5 exceptions, the House & Senate are full of generic puppets on strings.

And for the better part of American History, the person in that big white house has certainly been the biggest puppet of all.

[DosZap]

TinShine,

Not one iota naive,both are driving the same short bus,same goals, same end game.

But if I am going to be drowned, I would rather it be 10yrs from now, than 1yr from now.

And that is the sole difference.We all are going to die, just I would rather get to pick WHEN.

Major difference is the GOP is driving the short bus, a hell of a lot slower than the ckskrs opposite them.

[Iriestx]

Neither of the two parties is interested in helping you or fixing this country.  You're naive if you think you'd get fucked any differently or less if the country picked McCain.

[TruthInSunshine]

Was that addressed to me?

If so, did you read my post?

I clearly stated dems and repubs are one in the same, using a few social wedge uses to confuse the sheeple, while implementing their boss's (the same boss) plans.

[Iriestx]

Replies to a comment are nested under them.  Mine is aligned with yours.  That means we're both replying to the same comment.

[TruthInSunshine]

Yeah, I wish Zero Hedge would reformat that aspect of comments, somehow.

But I'm quibbling over a minor detail given that this is the best site, offering the best content, and most thought-provoking content (with widely divergent opinions offered and much heated debate) of any I've ever had the privilege of having access to.

[Iriestx]

Agreed, the commenting system here is pretty bad.

[Antarctico]

Unless I am directly under the comment I am replying to, I will snip out an excerpt and put it at the top of my reply using the rich-text quote function.  It is a little USENET old school, but doing this (I hope) prevents confusion.

[DosZap]

Truth,

Real easy to know if someone repssonds to you, and vice versa.....put part of their handle at the beginning.

See how I did it?.

ZH doesn't need to worry about the small stuff.

[TruthInSunshine]

Anta, DosZap - roger that.

[Everybodys All ...]

You proved your not a rascist when you voted for Obama. Now prove your not stupid and vote for anyone else in 2012.

[SDRII]

Well perhaps the funds will be used to press the Yemen front:

"An investigation team from the United States has reportedly found that an attack that wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh and several senior members of his government while performing the Friday prayers in his Sana’a presidential compound earlier in June was carried out by an advanced US-made missile designed for special assassination operations, sources close to the probe told Al Arabiya.  “The missile is very advanced and still not widely used. Only the United States and Russia currently employ this weapon,” a source said.US investigators informed the Yemeni authorities about the finding, which they said refutes earlier claims attributed to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that the source of the explosion was inside President Saleh’s compound."

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/06/20/154120.html

[Franken_Stein]

Yemen is still to be incorporated into the NWO.

They still have an independent banking system.

I'm not surprised at all.

[Juice Box]

When you put your faith in "Tax Cheats" to save the economy, can you really be surprised that they do not deliver economic impact?

This is like giving a pardon to a bank robber, then being shocked when they get caught robbing another bank!

[IdioTsincracY]

Republicans will never let this pass ... right?!?

[hambone]

This is a "win-win" for both parties...it's a sure thing.  Cost to taxpayer (directly) none...mass windfall to re-election committees, huge...more ginned up stimulus for the "job recovery", you betcha.

This one is a foregone conclusion.

[Bobbyrib]

It's going to be funny when Obama signs the bill into law only to find out it didn't create a single job and the blame is placed squarely on him.

[Iriestx]

The same billionaires and plutocracy own both parties, wholly and completely.  This republican vs democrat shit is just theater to keep the sheep distracted while they empty the coffers and burn the country to the ground.

It's fake.  It's theater.  It's as scripted as any 'reality' TV show out there.  They're playing you for a sucker and you're too naive to realize it.

[Cathartes Aura]

*nods*  doesn't matter how many times it's posted, in endless variant "voice" - the TRUTH still rocks.

I don't hold out much hope that many know this truth, even here, and that's disheartening. . .

[mayhem_korner]

Firms hire & pay on the basis of future profits, not past, off-shored ones. 

Talk about yer transitory.

[John McCloy]

Anyone see the front page Yahoo Story? More propaganda against "racist" constitutionalists:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110622/ap_on_re_us/us_hate_groups_fertile_g...

[Shell Game]

That article makes me spitting mad for the Nth time today/this month/this year..  When money is not money, when crime is not crime, when lies are touted as truth and the truth is mocked......it makes one want to embrace the label of 'extremist' with great pride.

[Bay of Pigs]

I did see that. Time to lump all dissenters into the "extremist" camp.

[Rodent Freikorps]

You have to demonize the opposition before you can start rounding them up.

Pogrom 101.

[Cheesy Bastard]

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/03/move_to_the_mountain_states--t.html

[Rodent Freikorps]

I moved to Texas for a reason.

[TruthInSunshine]

North Dakota or Montana are seducing me.

And  N. Dakota has its own bank, too!

How the Nation's Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street

— By Josh Harkinson

| Fri Mar. 27, 2009 6:33 PM PDT

The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in America—what Republicans might call an idiosyncratic bastion of socialism. It also earned a record profit last year even as its private-sector corollaries lost billions. To be sure, it owes some of its unusual success to North Dakota’s well-insulated economy, which is heavy on agricultural staples and light on housing speculation. But that hasn’t stopped out-of-state politicos from beating a path to chilly Bismarck in search of advice. Could opening state-owned banks across America get us out of the financial crisis? It certainly might help, says Ellen Brown, author of the book, Web of Debt, who writes that the Bank of North Dakota, with its $4 billion under management, has avoided the credit freeze by “creating its own credit, leading the nation in establishing state economic sovereignty.” Mother Jones spoke with the Bank of North Dakota’s president, Eric Hardmeyer...

[CompassionateFascist]

Yahoo = Sergei Brin homepage. You just think you've met bad Jews....then you meet a Russian Jew.

[hambone]

Hopefully we can get this one done fairly soon cause it's one of the last "white knights" of recovery remaining.  Once concluded, the cupboard will really be bare...and then, and only then can we have our final, great CB print off!!!

Call it Cupcakes...call it QE3...call it what Politicians "do".  Money for nothing.

[the not so migh...]

If Schumer wants it, you know it is bad for the entire country.

[SheepDog-One]

I have no idea what this is even supposed to mean. Im going to take a nap.

[francis_sawyer]

+1zzzzzz...

How the second sound bite makes any sense, we will need to ask someone with a full frontal lobotomy...

Only one OBVIOUS thing comes to mind...

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me... Than to have a frontal lobotomy...

[b_thunder]

instead of eventually collecting (give or take) 35% from the held in the offshore profits, the elected representatives decided to BORROW that money from the future and spend it now... except they're not borrowing a portion of it now - they're getting nothing.

Instead of this crap i'd say this:  create 6-month window for repatriation @ 25 or 27.5%.  And after that - raise the rate to 40 or 50%!

If corporations know for certain that the tax rate is goign to be HIGHER for a foreseeable future - they will bring some $$ "home."  The policy has to be carrot and stick - not just carrot and carrot.

[sbenard]

That's just great. More central planning by progressive tyrants!

[XRAYD]

I think Schmuker is referring to the 5% or 10% tax rate on the repatriated revenue, instead of the 35% under present rules. So net result would be $30 for ceo pay and stock buy backs, and $5 for Schumker's "infrastructure".

[DonnieD]

Someone should tell Chucky the effects of this tax scam are transitory.

[blackchips]

Chuck could be called intellectually bankrupt but that would imply he, at some point, actually had intelligence.

[Hedgetard55]

_+55.

[mess nonster]

Asset deflation continues apace. 1 Tr. in cash reserves- no it won't create a job, but "Fuck da proles" is democrat party main plank anyway. It will, maybe, prop up the stock market and keep 10 yr. Treasuries from breaking 3%.. at least for a couple of weeks.

The beauty thing is, they have no plan, other than "string it along." That's delicious, because what goes up must come down, including Shumer and his filthy ilk.

[Hedgetard55]

Chuckles Schumuh was Ant-nee Weenuh's mentor. If Huma Abedin had married Chuckles she would be Huma Schumuh.

[NotApplicable]

I still can't understand why she didn't go with Huma Weiner.

[bigdumbnugly]

lol.  actually i will bet that name oddity was certainly taken into consideration shortly after accepting his proposal.

btw, no sex tapes of huma and hillary yet?

[Rodent Freikorps]

I'd swear Huma has an Adam's apple.

That would explain a lot...on many fronts.

[bigdumbnugly]

if not an adam's apple,  maybe a cherry?

[gwar5]

The Liberal Obamabaggers would be better off not making businesses and capital leave in the first place by going S.O.C.I.A.L.I.S.T. 

And why so socialist sadface anyway, Barack? ---- you still have GE, GM, Google, the MSM and the Squid!

Definitely Atlas Shrugged going on here. I don't recall Karl advocated begging evil capitalists in Communist Manifesto.

[topcallingtroll]

Yeah the socialists think businessmen would be fooled by a temporary tax holiday?

And that businessmen would be stupid enough to make long term capital investments based on a temporary tax reduction?

Of course any profits brought back to the USA under such circumstances will go to the OWNERS of the company otherwise known as shareholders.

Atlas shrugged a long time ago in the USA. 

These international companies (no longer USA companies) will never make huge capital investments in the USA. 

Why would you invest in a country that has some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world and also expects businesses take care of most of the health care costs?

You would have to be an idiot to build long term capital projects in the United States.

[gwar5]

Agree +100

High Taxes, energy shutdown, litigation & torts. Honestly think they're trying to destroy America so there's no competition to the NWO. At the very least there are huge barriers to anyone competing with the current crony pets.

[docj]

They're drowning, and they know it.

We're witnessing the last, desperate flailing of a doomed country, about to be dragged under the surface of a choppy sea by it's own overfed mass for the final time, still gasping, still fighting - but starting to slowly become resigned to having to confront his Maker much, much sooner than he otherwise wished.

It's never pretty.

[IdioTsincracY]

At the White House on Dec. 15, business executives asked President Obama for a tax holiday that would help them tap more than $1 trillion of offshore earnings, much of it sitting in island tax havens....

“Sophisticated U.S. companies are routinely repatriating hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign earnings and paying trivially small U.S. taxes on those repatriations,” said Edward D. Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “They devote enormous resources first to moving income to tax havens, and then to bringing those profits back to the U.S. at the lowest possible tax cost.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-29/dodging-repatriation-tax-lets-u...

[Iriestx]

That's so cute that you actually believe that both parties aren't owned by the same people.  You really don't see that you're being played as a sucker, and neither party has any interest in helping anybody besides that plutocracy that owns them.

[IdioTsincracY]

What was really cute was your mom dressed as a nurse!

[Cdad]

will it backfire even with that modest purpose of making the mega rich even richer?

That's it.  That is the purpose.  This idea is simply another manifestation of the polluted crony capitalist system we now suffer with.  

Repatriation will not cause job growth.  It will cause the announcement of corporate share buyback plans, which will be met with curious and massive insider selling of stock option grants.  That's it...that is all it will accomplish.

How about a holiday from DC morons writing new laws and stimulus bills instead?

[IdioTsincracY]

A senior Republican tax writer on the House Ways and Means Committee is introducing legislation that would give U.S. companies one year to bring home at a lower tax rate as much as $1 trillion in profits parked overseas.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/BNSTAFF-BNTEAMS-BON-BUD/2011/05/11/id...

[Iriestx]

You're naive if you think either party is interested in helping the middle class, respecting The Constitution, or saving America.

They're here to rob this country blind before the burn it to they ground, and they're doing it behind the guise of R vs D.

You're a sucker. 

[IdioTsincracY]

Iriestx ... even though you are too imbecile to realize it, I am contributing additional information to this thread.

Now ... if that is the best you can do, just go away ...

and as for sucker ... that was you mom's middle name.

[Iriestx]

Reads to me like you're a sucker that is shilling for party in this scam two-party system.

[IdioTsincracY]

Can you contribute anything worth reading? ... anything that resembles useful information, besides the usual rants that have been around for years?

[Iriestx]

I hope you're at least getting paid for shilling for the plutocracy and furthering their pathetic R vs D theater.

[IdioTsincracY]

Once again ... your mom is taking care of that.

[Iriestx]

The childish jokes are exactly what I'd expect from somebody naive enough to fall for the republican vs democrat scam.

[dcb]

hello it is schumer, wall street patsy. It's his district!!!!

on a trading basis, it may make the dollar go up, so I could trade it that way I guess.

Who do you think tells the man what so say, also the arguments made by the industry are designed to be factual, they are to justify the vote to the public. after all do you expect him to say he supports this because the financial services companies give him lots of campaign money. !!

[NotApplicable]

What revenue?

Whatever revenue.

[hambone]

Even if taxed at a "nominal" tax of 5.25% (as proposed) - still talking $50+B in tax revenue...that is a tax "windfall" of 2.5% over current tax revenue round $2T. 

Just think what kind of votes they can buy with that kind of money ("free" programs for poor and "tax free" corporate profits plus S&P / RUT goosing w/ stock buy back, M&A, blah blah) and the long term fixes they can put off for one more year!!!

Let's just get it over with so we can prove once and for all it's no panacea.

[topcallingtroll]

Our politicians are just becoming stupider and stupider.

Our tax laws make Americans unwelcome in international corporations, with international banks, and seriously mess up job growth in the USA with its complexity and misallocation of resources. 

Does the USA really benefit from having 500,000 professionals spend their working lives interpreting the tax code and looking for loopholes?  Might their labors provide greater societal benefit in other occupations?

We need to lower corporate tax rates permanently so that we are not such an outlier with a 35 percent top rate.  We need to simplify the tax code, but our politicians instead are going to waste time on a temporary tax holiday.

[Rodent Freikorps]

It is not fixable.

[IdioTsincracY]

Lower corporate rates? ....

They've never been lower ... actually the chart detailing the decrease or corporate tax rates matches exactly the decline of the empire:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/key-elements/business/image...

[topcallingtroll]

I mentioned before these are no longer American companies.  They don't pay a lot in USA taxes because of their overseas components.

[Freewheelin Franklin]

I've got a hammer. Someone point me in the direction of a parking lot full of cars. I'll create lots of jobs.

HAHAHAHA.

And as the cops wrestle me to the ground I will yell, "you can't stop me from creating jobs, you fascist bastards!!!".

[IdioTsincracY]

The premise of a repatriation holiday is that the money brought back will be invested domestically and create jobs. However, corporations used the money from a 2004 repatriation holiday to enrich their executives, not expand U.S. operations. In fact, the companies that benefited most from that 2004 tax break wound up cutting thousands of jobs over the subsequent few years.

But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from calling for a repeat performance. House Republicans have proposed a repatriation holiday that would have corporations pay a 5.25 percent tax rate on any money they repatriate (instead of the statutory 35 percent rate). And the idea evidently has the support of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), who appeared on CNBC today. He not only endorsed a repatriation holiday, but said we should permanently allow corporations to repatriate money at a lower tax rate:

It’s a good idea. We ought to have it every day. Instead of having repatriation every seven years, let’s have it every single day by going to a different system.

Of course, permanently allowing corporations to repatriate money at a lower rate would create all sorts of perverse incentives to first send money offshore for purely tax purposes and then bring it back later. But Ryan may also have been endorsing the move to what’s known as a territorial tax system. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has called for such a system, which, as Citizens for Tax Justice noted, would promote the permanent offshoring of U.S. jobs and funds.

Already, the prospect of repeated tax holidays has encouraged corporations to move assets offshore. According to research done at Northwestern University, following the 2004 tax holiday, corporations moved more money offshore in anticipation of another tax holiday, and “by the end of 2006 the total ‘permanently’ reinvested abroad had exceeded the 2004 peak.” The Joint Economic Committee estimated that a repatriation holiday would cost the U.S. nearly $80 billion over 10 years.

[Iriestx]

You've fallen for the biggest scam in the history of America.  The illusion that there is some difference in the two political parties.

They're both here to rape you, rob you and burn your country to the ground.  They get away with it because you're too busy distracted by some bullshit red vs blue theater.

[IdioTsincracY]

Iriestx .. did you forget to take you medicine today?

[StychoKiller]

"The world will soon wake up to the reality that everyone is broke and can collect nothing from the bankrupt, who are owed unlimited amounts by the insolvent, who are attempting to make late payments on a bank holiday in
the wrong country, with an unacceptable currency, against defaulted collateral, of which nobody is sure who holds title." -- Anonymous

[proLiberty]

"The premise of a repatriation holiday is that the money brought back will be invested domestically and create jobs. However, corporations used the money from a 2004 repatriation holiday to enrich their executives, not expand U.S. operations. In fact, the companies that benefited most from that 2004 tax break wound up cutting thousands of jobs over the subsequent few years."

Given that money is fungible, there are two worthless claims in this paragraph that have the effect of projecting an cyncial lie.  It is just fodder advancing socialism. 

[girl money]

They just don't get it. 

Their target audience is hoarding the offshore cash because they have become their own banks -- they don't have to deal with the TBTF's anymore. 

Their target audience also has enjoyed more rewarding regulatory and HR policy elsewhere, and has no desire to come back under Uncle Sam's thumb.

You are no longer the first choice in a global economy, USA, and you haven't been for some time.  Sadly, you still have no idea how to turn the ship. 

[topcallingtroll]

Sadly true.

It is scary when socialist leaning europeans have a more sophisticated understanding of regulatory burden, tax policy, HR policy, liability issues, and capital cost structures than the USA.

We pissed it all away.

[IdioTsincracY]

Ryan Endorses Huge Corporate Tax Giveaway: ‘It’s A Good Idea, We Ought To Have It Every Day’

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/20/248538/ryan-repatriation-eve...

[Iriestx]

You've fallen for the biggest scam in the history of America. The illusion that there is some difference in the two political parties.

They're both here to rape you, rob you and burn your country to the ground. They get away with it because you're too busy being distracted by some bullshit red vs blue theater.

[IdioTsincracY]

Iriestx = Exit sir! .... indeed, please do exit.

[Iriestx]

Just another sheep that thinks that this Republican vs Democrat shit is anything besides a scripted theater to keep you distracted.

It's cute that you're naive enough to shill for one of the illusionary parties.  I hope they're paying you, at least.

[IdioTsincracY]

As i said .. you mom is paying me!

[LFMayor]

That might be a bot you're arguing with there, man.  Seems to be a pattern developing in it's responses.

It pastes the responses in the chat window. It does this whenever it is told.

[Contra_Man]

Shouldn't we (the People) be taking Congress as explicit yet covert partners to an act of hostile Corporate Oligarchy tax-avoidance? 

Individuals may not bring back into the Country foreign currency (as a resident taxpaying citizen) at a reduced rate, so why should Corporations (defined as an entity with voting rights like a person) be any different? 

Especially when these low (or no-taxed) foreign operation earnings are the direct result of several, back to back, jobless corporate "shell" recoveries.  

So we can't use the existing record corporate cash coffers (for hiring tax credits) which are stuffed to the brim for Dow and S&P Balance Sheets, so we must now try bringing back (repatriating) more non-lending tax-reduced cash on hand (in gold and silver?), adding no state tax revenues, and encouraging ever more tax free havens, corporate holding companies, and other unfair taxation gimmicks.

P.S. That off-shored "tax-free" money you speak of is a direct result from successive and concurrent jobless recoveries policies in North America IMHO.

[Gold Man-Sacks]

Tax hol-i-day!  It would be, it would be so nice!

[tyler]

Cenk Ugar and Dylan Ratigan destoryed the neocon myth of this type of crap creating jobs.  They did this tax holiday in 2004 and 92% of the money went to shareholders.  Between 2005-06 most companies that got the holdiay laid off between 500 and 30,000 workers.  The top ceo's got big bonuses and they even mentioned jeff immelt got seven million but that was chump change compared to most.  The democrats are just the same as republicans on issues that matter.  Wake the hell up America!

[MiguelitoRaton]

So if the money goes to shareholders, consider it a stimulus bill to the people, trickle down baby ;-)

[MiguelitoRaton]

I'm surprised they don't say "you can repatriate the money for free, but only if you put it in US treasuries that you hold for 3 years...." More financial repression...

[Everybodys All ...]

Would not be a surprise.  However, I would prefer the repatriated money be used by the US companies to buy real estate. I think it would help put a floor in the real estate market. Local real estate taxes would be obviously helped buy this and it would not include one government dollar of support. Very simple and very useful to get the housing market restarted from the depressed levels. Just my opinion ...

[Rodent Freikorps]

test.

[carbonmutant]

Signs of Desperation from The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight...

These guys are in trouble.

They didn't see it coming.

They don't have a clue on how to fix it.

And they're looking for anything that will stick to the wall of public opinion.

The BS has reached critical mass. Nobody believes anybody.

[Westcoastliberal]

This is just about the exact opposite of what we need to do.  We need to tariff the shit out of every company that offshores jobs or hires H1B visa people instead of out-of-work Americans.  I even have a slogan I'll give away free to the politico who takes up the mantle:  Make it here-Sell it here/Make it there-You'll pay to sell it here.  Pretty catchy, 'eh?

[Urban Redneck]

If the equity leaves the US- the US, US consumers and US taxpayers are screwed.  They will be left owning nothing but a fiat debt financing industry facilitating increased US borrowing to pay for increasingly expensive imported goods.

[Bobbyrib]

and the difference between now and then would be...

[slewie the pi-rat]

don't forget to give yerself a raise, too, chuck!

[Urban Redneck]

Any company with billions of dollars sitting offshore isn't a subprime corporate borrower. Therefore, with Fed ZIRP, they can borrow any money they want for domestic "expansion" anytime, at basically no cost.  In fact, it's a negative borrowing cost if one factors in US tax deferral and leverage on liquid assets held offshore.  A tax holiday will not create jobs as long as the US has negative real interest rates and these same Super Sized Conglomerates can borrow domestically for free.

However, unless the larger problem of making the United States an unattractive capital investment and manufacturing domicile is addressed it is just pissing in a rainstorm.

[topcallingtroll]

exactly

But that would require economically literate politicians.

[penisouraus erecti]

Makes perfect sense in a planned economy such as we've become.

I hear his former protege, Mr. Weiner is looking for something to do these day other than sexting - Chuckie can hire him to be the repatriation Czar or some other weiner friendly position.

[Buck Johnson]

Also what isn't been said, is that many of the big money companies and people want to get their money back to the corporate friendly US because they fear what will happen in europe and asia.  They know that many of those banks in Europe is insolvent, and they want to get their money out before they can't or their money gets nationalized.  It's the rats getting their money out to a friendly place and then bring it back to europe to buy things.  Don't get me wrong, it will also happen in the US but right now they know that europe is close to exploding.

[jointhewave]

Watch the YouTube video...

Fallen Man: The Road to War & End of America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCjYx5kZ7EU

BRILLIANT!!!