I’m not sure I understand the outrage. No one is forcing the government to sell T bills, right? they must be doing it because it helps them. Why does it matter if it’s Apple or my Aunt Margarete buying them?
I think this is more of Cory “I hate everything Apple” latching onto something to be outraged about.
The only answer is communism (aka, sharing) which this country is far too self-centered to even consider, so we’re stuck with the “money managers” and accountants who will do or say anything to convince you that their billions in “off-shore accounts” are mutually beneficial.
Yup. Silver was only ever a semi-precious metal. It’s market price is far more volatile than gold or platinum-family metals because its value is mainly dependent on industrial use - this is true of platinum and palladium too because of their use in trace amounts in the automotive industry, but those fluctuate between valuable and extremely valuable due to their incredible rarity (for instance it’s estimate that less than 25 cubic feet of platinum has ever been mined, and even less of palladium) [credit to @bibliophile20 for correcting my misinformation].
Gold will probably hold its value, and as an investment it performs about the same as a conservatively managed diversified mutual fund (fairly stable in the long run, but not outstanding). Just don’t buy it from the types of gold sellers that advertise on TV and radio or you’ll be ripped off.
Part of Cory’s personal fake news clickbait formula: Take something that is actually bad (Apple dodging US taxes via corporate loopholes) and multiply it (for no valid reason) by something false or irrelevant.
By all means, stop Apple buying US debt. It’s far better letting China buy a couple more trillion dollars of it instead! Of course when you eliminate more and more competitors to buy that debt the interest rates on it goes higher and we have to pay even more money out to have it handled.
Invested with money that should have been paid in taxes in the first place. That’s pretty galling. It’s like being owed money by someone who suggests they “pay it back” by giving you a loan… that has interest.
I’m not sure if you’re referring to me, but I love Apple shit.
Well, I personally am not outraged - sorry if I gave that impression. Investing in treasury bills is great…
I’d rather Apple pay a fairer share of taxes, but, as we all now know, using the current tax laws to pay less taxes is “smart”
At least you put “smart” in quotes I have an uneasy feeling that acting smart (ie, in our own selfish interest) is going to come back around one day.
Not sure where you’re getting that 2% number.
Nah, though I did invest in a gold ETF at precisely the wrong time. I figure it will grow back eventually.
Sure, US taxpayers are paying Apple. They’re paying Apple interest on all the billions of dollars it’s lent them to run Medicare etc. By all means let’s talk about tax dodging, but this headline is just pure white noise; it’s a deliberate, Breitbart-caliber attack on reasoned debate.
And if we are going to talk about corporate tax dodging, maybe let’s focus on how governments should prevent it, rather than on how public companies should just choose to spend millions of dollars on “patriotism” (which doesn’t even qualify as moronic).
Oh, I’m not defending the use of offshore tax havens by Apple (or Google, or many many other huge corporations); with all their talk of re-investing domestically I’m certain they’re hoping for another tax holiday to do so. I just think damning them for buying Treasury Bills seemed like a strange thing to shake a fist at.
Yes, it should. Historically gold fluctuations have balanced out. The only way I’d invest in gold is if it was part of a diversified fund, and for all I know the mutual fund I have through my bank includes gold, but it can’t be much of the fund.
Massive caveat with gold: the density of tungsten is almost the same (<1% difference) as the density of gold which strongly encourages people to sell gold plated tungsten for that sweet sweet prepper $$$
Also a person can drill holes from a gold bar and fill them with tungsten rods then plate the adulterated bar. There are probably even more vulnerabilities because gold is a rock and rocks are a terrible way to store wealth.
It’s all still selfish capitalism. The future is not how we make more money for ourselves, it’s how we end suffering for ALL of us.
Nationalism is over. There’s no money in it, no future in it. But it’s useful to keep the plebs in line, to scoop up cannon fodder for oil wars. Believing that you live in a nation with boundaries that are being defended for your benefit, that’s for suckers. Don’t like it? Join a multinational. Or… organize.
Nothing Apple is doing is illegal or even wrong. They have a duty to the government to pay the tax due and a duty to their shareholders to maximize profit. If you have a complaint it’s with the government that set the tax regulation. Buying bonds isn’t ripping anyone off either, Apple is lending the government money and receiving interest as part of the deal.
Now I don’t think any of this is how it should be but it’s a function of tax law.
Feel free to substitute Apple for any other company, it’s all the same
Or, in this case, a good thing. If I were in the US I’d be happy to hear that Apple was buying Treasury Bills.
“Apple’s tax-dodging offshore billions are sunk into Orphanages that pay out in educated workers for the next generation!” Would be a super weird headline.
I wish people would stop talking about “tax dollars,” and wisely spending them. It’s a neo-conservative catch phrase that reinforces a one-dollar, one-vote view of democracy.
But if the government were actually receiving the taxes due, would it have had to borrow those funds?
(Never mind the waste and always spending more than they have etc etc, keep it simple!)
