What About a War on Poverty?
Barrack Obama ( during the 2008 Election campaign) several times referred to an office building in the Cayman Islands that, he said, supposedly housed 12,000 U.S.-based corporations. "That's either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world," he said. The building is Ugland House, the home office of the international law firm, Maples and Calder. It is the address of almost 19,000 companies, many of them American.
Biggest building in the world? Hardly…
How about a single low-rise, yellow brick building…1209 Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware. That building must be ten times larger, since it’s the legally registered office of more than 200,000 companies including Ford, American Airlines, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
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Bob B suggests that Delaware is one of the best states to look at if you want to evade your tax obligations.
I made a big mistake many years ago.
I became too concerned about the general welfare of under-privileged people and neglected the more sensible option of only being concerned about making a quick dollar for myself.
With my intellect, skills and scintillating wit - I would surely have become bigger than Bill Gates or Warren B ?
ha ha
But on a more serious note, could anyone estimate how much extra revenue might flow into the federal treasury if all of the big US companies actually paid some Tax ?
With that extra revenue - how much easier would Government be able to meet its desired objectives in the fields of health, social security etc
Compared to say Australia, the US social security payment system is mean and miserable.
If unemployed people in the US received even one fifth of the salary they normally would get if they were fully employed - then they could almost survive as unemployed people .
Also the money they received would be a boost to the economy -as lower income people tend to spend virtually whatever they receive in income.
It actually makes good economic sense to fund unemployed people and pensioners as their spending goes straight back into the economy.
Actually that was what the British economist JM Keynes speculated about in the 1930's as a means to provide economic stimulation.
He (funnily enough perhaps) wondered if leaving pots of money around for poor people to find and spend - would not stimulate the economies of the time.
It was impractical of course. Yet these days that idea would be easy to arrange because everyone is registered with government agencies and the paying of some form of social security is accepted, whereas in the time of Keynes - it was virtually unheard of.
So If the President wanted to really stimulate the US economy - he need only send money each week to the bank accounts of unemployed and pensioner people and their spending would provide considerable boost to the economy.
It the money came straight from Treasury then it would never have to be repaid to the private banks as happens with all government spending these days.
Using modern banking technology (electronic transfer of funds) to send money emanating from treasury Itself to the accounts of say 100 Million US citizens who might be somewhat disadvantaged financially - would provide a big boost to the Economy.
If the big US companies actually paid some taxes - that would further boost Treasury finances.
Some time back before Mr Bernake joined the federal reserve bank ( which is really only the HQ of the private banks ) he was thinking about Mr Keynes' idea of stimulating economies, and he speculated about possibly dropping money from Helicopters so that citizens could pick up and spend it.
He soon become known as Helicopter Ben.
But sending funds to citizens bank accounts by electronic means is the way to go.
If it comes from treasury itself then it is non repayable and no interest needs to be paid on it.
Barrack could literally create Trillions of dollars of new public spending by this simple innovation.
For those who think that this might have inflationary consequences, Barack would only need to bring in some price control legislation.
There can be no inflation if prices cannot go up .
Of course the big private banks would not like these kinds of measures because their profits might diminish somewhat, but if it keeps the US and other countries out of a new economic depression ( which it would) then lets go for it !
This is how President Lincoln financed his side of the Americam civil war. The private banks would only lend him large sums of money at very high interest rates, so he ignored them and paid all bills straight from his federal Treasury.
No interest or repayments to be made, so his Government conducted its side of the civil war virtually debt free. This is how to conduct a war on poverty as well.
Jim
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Yet top of the pile, beating the British Virgin Islands, Belize or Liechtenstein as the best place to hide wealth, is Delaware. One of the smallest states in the US, it offers the best protection for anyone who does not want to disclose their identity as a beneficial owner of a company. That is one very good reason why the East Coast state hosts 50% of the US’s quoted firms and 650,000 companies – almost equivalent to one company per Delaware resident. …
By Bob Bauman
Earlier this year, at the G-20 Summit in London, The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker,(left) told it like it was:, "I find the treatment of certain states to be incomprehensible.” Juncker had said previously that if Luxembourg were put on any international list of offshore financial centers then “Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming should also be named and shamed as tax havens.”
The issue Juncker raised about Delaware contrasts nicely with a bit of political demagoguery Mr. Obama repeatedly used during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign…