Corporations Hoarding TRILLIONS

[GamerGal]

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars....ding-trillions

IRS data suggests that, globally, U.S. nonfinancial companies hold at least three times more cash and other liquid assets than the Federal Reserve reports, idle money that could be creating jobs, funding dividends or even paying a stiff federal penalty tax for hoarding corporate cash.

The Fed's latest Flow of Funds report showed that U.S. nonfinancial companies held $1.7 trillion in liquid assets at the end of March. But newly released IRS figures show that in 2009 these companies held $4.8 trillion in liquid assets, which equals $5.1 trillion in today's dollars, triple the Fed figure.
...
This cash pool came to $16,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States, a 53 percent real increase from 2004, my calculations from IRS data show.

You don't have to sit idle and frustrated pondering how many jobs these companies could be creating if they weren't just hoarding all this cash. As Johnston explains here:

Yep. Republicans are hoarding TRILLIONS of dollars. But they need more tax breaks before they have enough money to create jobs...

[SuperDig]

Nice link GG ... doesn't get much more biased than that ....

Please explain to me how you, if president, would create jobs in the country using the hoarded trillions?

[GamerGal]

How would I? Use those trillions to offset a tax cut for the bottom 95% so they have more money to spend. More Demand equals need for more supply which means more people needed to make said supply.

[Max]

Why are americans obsessed with Tax Cuts. The standard of living in America FALLS the more taxes you cut.

If you could theoretically get that hoarded wealth, why should you then fucking waste it on GIVING TAX CUTS. That accomplishes nothing. Better to invest it in infrastructure, science, technology, education etc etc.

Tax cuts accomplish nothing.

[GamerGal]

Tax cuts to the top 2% do nothing as they just hoard the money.(As shown in the link)
Tax cuts to the lower 98% increases the money they have to spend and unlike the top 2% they don't hoard it.

[Max]

No, tax cuts full stop do nothing. What you need is BETTER SPENDING of the money. It is a complete and utter waste to find an extra trillion (like this article suggests) and rather than use it cleverly, just cut tax more. If you cut tax on the 98%, sure they might spend more, which will have neglible impact on your economy. Since everything you make is made overseas then the actual benefit it supplies the American economy is minimal. Better to invest it in something which will see a return over time. Heck, upgrade the entire American power system, create a continent wide super fast fibre optic network, high speed rail, ANYTHING, that could help the economy for decades. Something which creates JOBS!

Not "oh hey lets cut a tax so every american family has an extra 4 dollars a week to waste"/

[Bob]

Sorry everyone but you're missing the big picture. Why would any company, in their right mind, spend their capital when they can borrow from the "fedral gubbamint" at half a percent? This is precisely what I mean when I say; we haven't had capitalism in this country since 1990.

[MaximumPain]

we haven't had capitalism in this country

Fixed the for you :)

[Traveler]

And why have you just assumed that these companies are all Republican, Are you trying to make us believe that there are no democrats out there with the savvy to run a company.

Considering how big a cash cow Al-Gore has found in the green movement I would say the democrats are probably the bigger offenders anyway.

[Max]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097

Tax havens: Super-rich 'hiding' at least $21tn
Comments (433)
Sterling pound notes James Henry says his $21tn figure is a conservative estimate


When is tax dodging illegal?
Tax avoiders 'cost basic rate 2p'

A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study.

The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined.

The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for by the Tax Justice Network.

Tax expert and UK government adviser John Whiting said he was sceptical that the amount hidden was so large.

Mr Whiting, director of the Office of Tax Simplification, said: "There clearly are some significant amounts hidden away, but if it really is that size what is being done with it all?"

Mr Henry said his $21tn is actually a conservative figure and the true scale could be $32tn. A trillion is 1,000 billion.

Mr Henry used data from the Bank of International Settlements, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national governments.

His study deals only with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts.

The report comes amid growing public and political concern about tax avoidance and evasion. Some authorities, including in Germany, have even paid for information on alleged tax evaders stolen from banks.

The group that commissioned the report, Tax Justice Network, campaigns against tax havens.

Mr Henry said that the super-rich move money around the globe through an "industrious bevy of professional enablers in private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries.

"The lost tax revenues implied by our estimates is huge. It is large enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many countries.

"From another angle, this study is really good news. The world has just located a huge pile of financial wealth that might be called upon to contribute to the solution of our most pressing global problems," he said.
'Huge black hole'

The report highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens that is put beyond the reach of local tax authorities.

Mr Henry estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3tn to $9.3tn of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010.

Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the world economy," Mr Henry said.

Mr Whiting, though, urged caution. "I cannot disprove the figures at all, but they do seem staggering. If the suggestion is that such amounts are actively hidden and never accessed, that seems odd - not least in terms of what the tax authorities are doing. In fact, the US, UK and German authorities are doing a lot."

He also pointed out that if tax havens were stuffed with such sizeable amounts, "you would expect the havens to be more conspicuously wealthy than they are".

Other findings in Mr Henry's report include:

At the end of 2010, the 50 leading private banks alone collectively managed more than $12.1tn in cross-border invested assets for private clients
The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs
Less than 100,000 people worldwide own about $9.8tn of the wealth held offshore.

21 TRILLION!!!!

[olddragon]

*I do love how many only see one side.

The Falling Fortunes of the One Percent
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48257611

The presidential election has given us two myths about the rich.
First, that their incomes, and income inequality, are at all-time highs.
Second, that the wealthy pay less in taxes than ever, and lower taxes than the rest of us.
A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, however, suggests that both may be false.

The One Percent paid an average effective tax rate of 28.9 percent on their income —
far more than any other group, and more than twice the average effective rate of the middle class,
who paid 11 percent on average.
So the rich lost more income and paid more of their money in taxes than the rest of the population.

This is not an argument against taxing the wealthy.
And the incomes and tax rates of the wealthy may have jumped back since 2009, with the rebound in financial markets.
But when politicians and pundits talk about the rich just getting richer and paying less taxes,
they need to pay closer attention to the actual numbers.

*just so you know.

[Ningishiddza]

Nice link GG ... doesn't get much more biased than that ....

Please explain to me how you, if president, would create jobs in the country using the hoarded trillions?

You have to understand that some people are total fuck-tards and don't understand anything about anything, least of all business.

I don't give much investment advice, but what I do tell people is that if you buy stocks, then select a company that does two things: 1) pays dividends, and 2) hoards at least 1/3 of their assets in cash.

I'm going to tell you a bed-time story now.

Once upon a time, there was vice-president at General Motors named Durant. One day, Durant was fired. He was sad and depressed, until that fateful day when he met a man named Louis Chevrolet. So Durant and Chevrolet teamed up and started producing and selling Chevrolet automobiles. The Chevrolet was a big hit with America. Duran was so successful selling his Chevrolet, that he made profits in cash, and he took his cash and he started to buy up all the General Motors stocks that he could find on the Dow Jones.

And then, as fate would have it, one day Durant had bought so much stock in General Motors, that he owned 51% of all outstanding General Motors stock.

And then Durant called a share-holders meeting, because, you know, that is his right as majority share-holder, and then Durant nominated himself as the CEO of General Motors, you know, because that is his right as the majority share-holder, and then Durant cast 51% of the stock as votes for himself, because, you know, he was the majority share-holder.

And so Durant took control of General Motors....the company that fired him....and he became the Chief Executive Officer....and he lived happily ever after.

So, which one of you stupid morons wants to ask a really stupid question like, "Why are corporations hoarding cash?"


I tell you all another bed-time story.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Barney Kroger, and he started a grocery store. He managed his grocery store very well, and provided good customer service and so his one store grew into many grocery stores and then the Kroger Company was buying grocery stores all over the United States, until one day....


.....the Big Bad Evil Corporate Raider K R Kravitz showed up.

K R Kravitz used hostile take-overs, leveraged buyouts and forced acquisitions as a means of acquiring control of very successful corporations, and then selling off the most profitable parts of the corporations and then closing down what was left and firing all of the workers and making the workers very sad and unhappy.

K R Kravitz was so evilly successful at this, that a Senator from Ohio named Howard "I'm a ritzy liberal Jew" Metzenabaum passed a law that required companies to give at least 30 days notice before they were forced to closed their doors and fire all of their employees by the Evil Satanic K R Kravitz.

What was the Kroger Company to do? The employees cowered in the corner....they were fearful of losing their good-paying union jobs where cashiers started at $18/hour (in the early 1990s).

But the Kroger Company had a super special weapon called......"lots of hoarded cash."

And the Kroger Company took its "hoarded cash" that some fuck-tards think is stupid, and the Kroger Company paid off some of its debts, paid down other debts, and then refinanced the debts to make the Kroger Company more profitable. And the bond markets, and the investors and the share-holders and the workers and employees and the little people all cheered and said, "Krogers, Krogers, yes they can, they'll throw Kravitz in the garbage can."

And the value of the Kroger Company stocks rose and rose, and the Evil Nazi Satan K R Kravitz because furious and angry, because they wanted to destroy a successful corporation like the Kroger Company.

And then the Kroger Company took some of its "hoarded cash" that some fuck-tard idiots think is stupid, and started to buy back its own stock from share-holders on the Dow Jones.

And still, the value of the Kroger Company stocks rose and rose. And the bond markets, and the investors and the share-holders and the workers and employees and the little people all cheered and said, "You can't touch this.....You can't touch this...You can't touch this...."

And so the Kroger Company was saved, and the jobs for the employees of the Kroger Company were saved, and the Evil GG K R Kravitz went home crying with its tail between its legs.

So, now which one of you stupid morons wants to ask a really stupid question like, "Why are corporations hoarding cash?"

And the moral of the story is that when you are experiencing volatility on the stock market, and the economy is unstable and there is great uncertainly, you hoard as much cash as you can to protect yourself from corporate raiders or foreign companies that would try to buy up and close US companies.


See how that works?

And now I'll put it together with some context.


GE makes alarm clocks. GE is forced to pay workers a lot of money. No matter how much GE pays its workers, one thing is for certain, and that is GE can only produce so many alarm clocks per hour, per shift, per day, per week etc.

And no matter what GE does, GE must sell the alarm clocks for $29 to make profit of $5.

Do you think any of the following people can afford to pay $29 for an alarm clock?

Ukrainian making $30/month
Filipino earning $279/month or $1.73/hour
Bulgarian making $4.68/hour
Egyptian making $3.42/hour
Indian making $1.80/hour
Colombian earning $4.10/hour
Romanian making $2.14/hour

You people are sick and disgusting.

So to whom can GE sell alarm clocks? Basically 312 Million Americans and 397 Million Western Europeans (including O Canada!).

But, if GE off-shores its manufacturing to Mexico, then GE can make alarm clocks for $2 and sell them for $7 and make a $5 Profit

Hey, I have an idea...let's do the math:

$29 Price - $24 Cost = $5 Profits
$7 Price - $2 Cost = $5 Profits.

$5 = $5

Is there anyone who doesn't understand that?

If GE makes alarm clocks in Mexico, then GE can sell to 6.6 Billion people and not just America and Western Europe (including O Canada!)


Hey....let's do the math:

312 Million Americans + 397 Million Western Euros = 709 Million people

709 Million * $5 Profit = $3.54 Billion

6.6 Billion people in the rest of the world * $5 Profit = $33 Billion

Now, which is more, $33 Billion or $3.5 Billion?

If you said "$33 Billion" then congratulations, you're smarter than the OP.


For the sake of argument, let's assume GE refused to off-shore, because people like the OP whine and cry and bitch and snivel and throw temper tantrums.

Enter Casio.

Casio builds a plant in Mexico and now Casio is selling alarm clocks to 6.6 Billion people and raking in $33 Billion in profit.

Get it?

If you don't get it, go back and read the bed-time stories.

When Casio buys GE, then what?

Well then we have a nice advertising slogan like: Casio-GE. Technology for Life.

But Casio-GE doesn't need the GE plants it just bought in the US to stay open -- so it closes them -- putting Americans out of work.


What is the only way GE can stop Casio for buying up GE stock and gaining 51% of the stock and taking over GE?

Hoarding as much cold hard cash as it possibly can....that is GE's only defense.....it is the only defense of all US corporations to keep them from being bought up by foreign corporations and shut down, or even from being bought up by domestic competitors and shut down.


Imagine if the Kroger Company stocks dropped, and Wal*Mart started buying up Kroger stock? Wal*Mart could take over Kroger's and then what would Wal*Mart do? Wal*Mart would close most of the Kroger stores, and fire the employees.


What is the only way Kroger's can prevent that?.......hoarding as much cold hard cash as possible.



Now that you all know the Truth.....go back to SuperDig's comment...doesn't get much more biased than that ..


That's right. So what is the true motivation for criticizing the only possible means any US corporation has to prevent itself from being shut-down and its employees fired as the result of an hostile take-over, leveraged buyout or forced acquisition?

[Bob]

At long last you show. You are always welcome here.

[Traveler]

Like I pointed out in other posts the US is being taken over by communism from within and checkmate is only a few moves away.

[Bob]

Commies!?! Really? Is that the best you got? Communism determines the production goals of business. What we suffer from is a Corporate Theocracy. Business knows best. We suffer from it because our govt and corporate leaders started to believe their own press releases. We are about as far away from communism as you can get.

[Jake99]

Like I pointed out in other posts the US is being taken over by communism from within and checkmate is only a few moves away.

I have had the US judicial system in check mate for many years the problem is they refuse to surrender as I have asked them to do in court many times. I have formally complained about the wolves in sheeps clothing many times under oath. Put up or shut up.

[Traveler]

Commies!?! Really? Is that the best you got? Communism determines the production goals of business. What we suffer from is a Corporate Theocracy. Business knows best. We suffer from it because our govt and corporate leaders started to believe their own press releases. We are about as far away from communism as you can get.

No the businesses operate along capitalistic lines, it's the infiltration of your governing institutions by communist ideologies that are the problem. There can never be a hot war between the two power blocks because of mutually assured destruction. So a war of subversion is taking place with the intention of uniting every thing under a global umbrella. Your country is split right down the middle, the two sides do not even seem to be able to communicate even though they speak the same language. Same words but meanings assigned to them are different. That is the result of competing ideologies. And at this stage the communist one is winning. They made your schools progressive and now the upcoming generation is in their pockets.

[Bob]

you've got this backwards...corporations are hoarding cash AKA capital. If we had gone commie, that money would be in govt. accounts. But seeing as how the corps. run the govt your confusion is understandable. If we were commie, everyone would have a job, housing, ect and the govt would get the entire bill. Even the old Soviets weren't commie, that was just a name of a political party.

[Jake99]

you've got this backwards...corporations are hoarding cash AKA capital. If we had gone commie, that money would be in govt. accounts. But seeing as how the corps. run the govt your confusion is understandable. If we were commie, everyone would have a job, housing, ect and the govt would get the entire bill. Even the old Soviets weren't commie, that was just a name of a political party.

I suggest competitive communism and socialism so no one goes without and the more you contribute the more you get in return.