Working Life

Remember the election for the Democratic California state party chair? It has stayed sleazy. I circle back with progressive chair candidate Kimberly Ellis to hear the latest—sexism, racism and just plain bully tactics are still the order of the day. Then, just two weeks after I talked about a big-time corporate fleecing of taxpayers in […]

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Because we need to celebrate in these dark political days, give a listen to how YOU, and thousands of people like you, helped kill (hopefully, forever), the dastardly Trans Pacific Partnership. After a short primer on so-called “free trade”, Jonathan speaks with two key people who organized the opposition, Lori Wallach, the director of Global […]

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Not to be holier than though, I’m writing this on a Mac Air…and the IPad is on the desk along with the Iphone. But, it did make me think: how many of my dollars did Apple find a way of stashing overseas in its $69.7 billion hoard that sits out of reach of the U.S. government? Not to wag a finger just at Apple, it’s a bunch of other tech companies that lead the way on stashing overseas $2.1 trillion in corporate taxes–and the number just swells.

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I am of two minds about Tim Cook’s public declaration that he is gay. On the one hand, good for him if he thinks that it emboldens other people to not be afraid of their sexual preference being known publicly. On the other hand, if the message is that, you, too can come out but only once you are the CEO of one of the most powerful corporations in the world–and you can do all that while fleecing the U.S. government of billions of dollars in revenue…well, it’s a moment to pause and consider.

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Just keep in mind this point: every time your favorite consumer company, the one with that very friendly logo, rolls out a new product, its internal corporate machine is getting ready to dodge taxes.

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Big money. Two trillion dollars. If you could touch it, it would reach…oh, I dunno, I’m not going to tell you how high that stack would go and, actually, the point is, you can’t touch it: it’s stashed overseas. In corporate bank accounts. But, here’s the beauty: if you want to know what it feels when the Fortune 500 fleece the country to the tune of $550 billion in dodged taxes on that $2 trillion hiding in foreign bank accounts, just pull out your billfold…empty…well, that’s cuz the tab for that fleecing is on YOU.

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Why does Apple avoid paying taxes? Because it can.

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When I wrote about Apple’s tax dodge, some people responded, and I saw other similar comments, that Apple was just doing what was legal and you can’t fault a company for taking advantage of the tax code. Which sort of missed the point.

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Full disclosure. I’m typing this blog on a Mac. Within reach is my IPhone. So, this is not some sort of stealth pro-PC campaign. But, enough already — Apple is perhaps one of the biggest corporate tax dodgers in history. And it’s OUR money that Apple is salting away in tax havens around the world — money that isn’t going to the Treasury to fund schools, roads, health care and you name it. I’m right there at the point of throwing all my Apple products away — or at least pledging never to set foot in another Apple store again. What about you?

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Goldman Sachs is one of the great predators in modern day society. I’m still waiting for the day when Goldman’s top executives face criminal indictments over the financial crisis scam — and I suspect I will keep waiting since the Obama Administration shows no inclination to go over the big bankers and Wall Street people who finance modern-day campaigns. But, as a side scam, Goldman is fleecing every taxpayer in America — and helping close schools and destroy the social safety net.

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