It has been nine years since the ‘Fed’ put up interest rates in the US. Not a day goes by when some pundit or other is explaining why an interest rate rise is imminent whilst yet another is warning that the US dollar is about to collapse in a heap.
There’s even a fed funds futures market for people to bet which way they think it is going to go.
For what it’s worth, I think the US dollar will weaken from its current position because a lot of the support it is getting lies solely in the belief that interest rates are about to start going up.
Much of that dollar support is created by continual talk from Yellen and the Fed about raising rates. But the fact is that every time they reach the point at which they said interest rates would rise, they chicken out.
So why does the Fed keep making big promises that it hasn’t the nerve to keep?
Good question, I’m glad you asked.
Although it might make them look a bit foolish, what their continual rate rise threats also do is to help to discourage speculation in US stocks and bonds – not a healthy thing for any economy.
If they do, do it, I don’t think they will until very late in 2015 – maybe not until 2016.
2016?
But wait.
2016 is an election year.
Will Obama deliberately burst Hilary’s Democrat Party bubble by allowing interest rates to rise? He might do it out of spite I suppose. There’s no love lost between them since Obama beat her for the candidacy and then won the Presidential election eight years ago.
But I think the election year may mean we are looking at 2017 for those rate hikes.
So who is right, me and people who think like me or the great unwashed of the media who are still predicting an imminent rate hike.
I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, but I think I might risk a few zero interest dollars that they are wrong and I’m not.
Stay tuned for some gloating or a big spoonful of humble pie come June this year.
Last day of this year and time for my recollections of 2014’s main events.
As always this is by no means meant to be a complete coverage of all the events that happened during 2014, just a personal blog post about some of the things I remember, and a few that I had forgotten until I started to compile this list.
I hope you enjoy.
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The Weather
We will start off with the weather since so many of us seem to be obsessed with it.
In the United States there were weather extremes. In California, for example, January was the warmest and driest on record in San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles. Only four other Januaries since 1878 had been completely dry in Los Angeles until January 2014. Alaskans experienced their third warmest January in 96 years of record, according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center.
In many parts of the Midwest, on the other hand, 2014 was the coldest winter since the late 1970s or early 1980s. And some southern states of the US became the victims of, firstly, winter storm Kronos which brought a rare blanket of snow as far south as Louisiana, and sleet as far south as Harlingen, Texas and Pensacola, Fla. in late January, and then, just days later, a second winter storm, Leon, hit many of the same areas causing commuter chaos in both Birmingham, Ala. and Atlanta. Leon also spread ice and sleet to the Gulf Coast, including the Florida Panhandle, and the Low country of South Carolina.
And worse was on the way. Winter Storm Pax deposited an inch or more of ice in a swath from east-central Georgia into South Carolina, including Augusta, Ga. and Aiken, S.C. Pax was the second heaviest ice storm dating to 1947 in Wilmington, N.C. The accumulation of ice from Pax claimed the famed “Eisenhower tree” at the Augusta National Golf Club. Pax marked the first time since January 1940 that Columbia, S.C. saw snowfall for three straight days.
In complete contrast, the week after Pax, Columbia, S.C. tied its all-time February high of 84 degrees. Augusta, Ga. warmed into the 80s two straight days on Feb. 19-20.
Elsewhere in the world, severe Atlantic winter storms took their toll on many parts of England which in 2014 experienced storms and rain not seen since the late 19th century.
In Tokyo, Japan, which usually averages only about 4 inches of snow each year, there were also severe snow storms. In February, snow blanketed the city with 11 inches of snow in less than a week, the heaviest snowfall in 45 years for Tokyo and in 60 years for the city of Kumagaya, northwest of Tokyo. The following weekend, parts of eastern Japan, including parts of the Tokyo metro area, received another round of snow. Some smaller communities were isolated by more than 3 feet of snow.
And in the southern hemisphere, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology reported that more than 10 percent of Queensland and almost 15 percent of New South Wales experienced their record hottest day on Jan. 3. A second heat wave hit parts of southern Australia in mid-January, with temperatures peaking above 41 degrees Celsius (just under 106 degrees Fahrenheit) for four straight days from Jan. 14-17, and reaching a sizzling 43.9 degrees C (111 degrees F) on both Jan. 16 and 17.
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Business and Technology
In the world of business and technology 2014 was the year the Obama administration decided to stop inversion deals, where US companies bought foreign domiciled businesses and moved their profit centers to a much more tax friendly location.
In technology buys, one of the largest was Facebook’s purchase of smartphone application WhatsApp for $19 Billion.
In other sectors 2014 saw world oil price plunge to around $50 per barrel, good news for consumers, not so good for producers.
Under pressure from the fall in oil and gas prices, along with the economic sanctions imposed by the west because of the ongoing situation in the Ukraine, the Russian Ruble went into free fall in December.
Also in 2014, in March, the United Nations International Court of Justice ruled that Japan’s Antarctic whaling program was not scientific but commercial and refused to grant further permits.
With Quantitative Easing having been ended in the US (for the moment anyway) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced plans for a new $29 billion fresh stimulus, including subsidies and job-creating programs, to help pull the world’s third-largest economy out of recession.
After their embarrassing foul up last Christmas, this year both FedEx and UPS managed to deliver more than 99 percent of express packages as promised on Dec. 22 and Dec. 23, according to shipment tracker ShipMatrix.
South Korean prosecutors arrested a government official who allegedly leaked information about an investigation into former Korean Air Lines executive Cho Hyun-ah, who forced a flight to return over a bag of macadamia nuts. Most of the rest of the world tends to think that the idiot executive should suffer the consequences of her stupidity, not the whistleblower.
And finally, after their embarrassing hack attack and cringe-worthy capitulation to what amounted to a terrorist cyber attack which was rightly criticized publicly by President Obama, Sony finally decided to release its movie ‘The Interview’.
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Conflicts, Wars & Terrorism
Unfortunately 2014 saw many conflicts and acts of terrorism.
In April an estimated 276 girls and women were abducted and held hostage from a school in Nigeria. The following month, Boko Haram militants killed approximately 300 people in a night attack on Gamboru Ngala and terrorists in Nigeria detonated bombs at Jos, killing 118 people.
June saw the emergence of a Sunni militant group called the ‘Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’ (also known as the ‘ISIS’ or ‘ISIL’). It began an offensive throughout northern Iraq, with the aim of eventually capturing the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad and overthrowing the Shiite government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The group has been responsible for beheading of hundreds of people including several from the United States.
In July and August tensions between Israel and Hamas grew following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June and the revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager in July. Israel launched ‘Operation Protective Edge’ on the Palestinian Gaza Strip starting with numerous missile strikes, followed by a ground invasion a week later. In 7 weeks of fighting, 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis were killed.
Also in July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777, crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 souls on board. There are conflicting claims as to who was responsible, some blaming pro Russian forces for a missile strike and others blaming Ukrainian forces.
In August and September the United States military began an air campaign in northern Iraq to stem the influx of ISIS militants and the following month the United States and several Arab partners began an airstrike campaign in Syria.
Expect more on these stories during 2015.
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Departures
During 2014 we said farewell to many well know people from various walks of life. Here is just my selection of those I remember.
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From Literature
Sue Townsend
British novelist and playwright (b. 1946)
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P. D. James
British writer and life peer
(b. 1920)
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From Movies & TV
Roger Lloyd-Pack
British actor
(b. 1944)
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Maximilian Schell
Austrian-Swiss actor
(b. 1930)
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Philip Seymour Hoffman
American actor
(b. 1967)
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Shirley Temple
American actress and diplomat
(b. 1928)
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Sid Caesar
American actor
(b. 1922)
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Harold Ramis
American film director,
writer, and actor
(b. 1944)
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Mickey Rooney
American actor
(b. 1920)
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Bob Hoskins
British actor
(b. 1942)
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Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
American actor
(b. 1918)
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Rik Mayall
British comedian,
writer and actor
(b. 1958)
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Casey Kasem
American radio host
and voice actor
(b. 1932)
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Eli Wallach
American actor
(b. 1915)
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Elaine Stritch
American actress and singer
(b. 1925)
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James Garner
American actor
(b. 1928)
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Menahem Golan
Israeli filmmaker
(b. 1929)
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Robin Williams
American actor and comedian
(b. 1951)
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Lauren Bacall
American actress
(b. 1924)
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Richard Attenborough
British actor and film director
(b. 1923)
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Joan Rivers
American comedian, actress,
and television host
(b. 1933)
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Richard Kiel
American actor (b. 1939)
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Polly Bergen
American actress
(b. 1930)
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Ken Takakura
Japanese actor
(b. 1931)
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Warren Clarke
English actor
(b. 1947)
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Glen A. Larson
American television producer
and writer
(b. 1937)
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Virna Lisi
Italian actress
(b. 1936)
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Billie Whitelaw
English actress
(b. 1932)
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Luise Rainer
Golden Age actress
“The Great Ziegfeld”
(b. 1910)
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From Music
Pete Seeger
American singer, songwriter,
musician, and activist
(b. 1919)
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Johnny Winter
American singer and guitarist
(b. 1944)
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Glenn Cornick
British bass guitarist
(b. 1947)
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Jack Bruce
British rock bassist
(b. 1943)
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Acker Bilk
British jazz clarinetist
(b. 1929)
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Joe Cocker
English singer
(b. 1944)
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From Politics
Zbigniew Messner
9th Prime Minister of the
People’s Republic of Poland
(b. 1929)
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Ariel Sharon
11th Prime Minister of Israel
(b. 1928)
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Tony Benn
British politician and diarist
(b. 1925)
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Adolfo Suárez
138th Prime Minister of Spain
(b. 1932)
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James R. Schlesinger
American economist and politician
(b. 1929)
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A. N. R. Robinson
3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago
(b. 1926)
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Howard Baker
American politician and diplomat
(b. 1925)
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Eduard Shevardnadze
2nd President of Georgia
(b. 1928)
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Albert Reynolds
Irish Taoiseach (prime minister)
(b. 1932)
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Ian Paisley
British politician and
First Minister of Northern Ireland
(b. 1926)
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Nicholas Romanov
Prince of Russia
(b. 1922)
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Jean-Claude Duvalier
41st President of Haiti
(b. 1951)
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John Spencer-Churchill
11th Duke of Marlborough,
British peer and educator
(b. 1926)
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Gough Whitlam
21st Prime Minister of Australia
(b. 1916)
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From Space Exploration
Valeri Kubasov
Soviet cosmonaut
(b. 1935)
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Wubbo Ockels
Dutch astronaut and physicist
(b. 1946)
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Henry Hartsfield
American colonel and astronaut
(b. 1933)
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Anatoly Berezovoy
Soviet cosmonaut
(b. 1942)
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From Sport
Eusébio
Portuguese footballer
(b. 1942)
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Mae Young
American professional wrestler
(b. 1923)
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Louise Brough
American tennis player
(b. 1923)
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Tom Finney
English footballer
(b. 1922)
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Nelson Frazier, Jr.
American professional wrestler
(b. 1971)
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Jimmy Ellis
American boxer
(b. 1940)
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Jack Brabham
Australian race car driver
(b. 1926)
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Malcolm Glazer
American businessman,
owner of Manchester United
(b. 1928)
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Valentin Mankin
Ukrainian sailor, Olympic triple champion
and silver medalist
(b. 1938)
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Fernandão
Brazilian footballer and manager
(b. 1978)
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Alfredo Di Stéfano
Argentine-Spanish footballer
(b. 1926)
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Andriy Bal
Ukrainian football player and coach
(b. 1958)
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Björn Waldegård
Swedish rally driver
(b. 1943)
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Andrea de Cesaris
Italian race car driver
(b. 1959)
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Health
The big health scare of 2014 that dominated the headlines was the of the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa in February, that initially infected over 19,000 people and killing at least 7,000, the most severe both in terms of numbers of infections and casualties.
In other news, also in February, Belgium became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia for terminally ill patients of any age.
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Politics
On January 1, Latvia officially adopted the Euro as its currency and became the 18th member of the Eurozone.
In February, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office, replacing him with Oleksandr Turchynov, after days of civil unrest that left around 100 people dead in Kiev. The pro-Russian unrest lead to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and an insurgency in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In March, Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, severed diplomatic and political ties with Panama, accusing it of being involved in a conspiracy against the Venezuelan government.
Also in March, an emergency meeting, involving the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and Canada temporarily suspended Russia from the G8.
In April, also in response to the Crimean crisis, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution temporarily stripping Russia of its voting rights; its rights to be represented in the Bureau of the Assembly, the PACE Presidential Committee, and the PACE Standing Committee; and its right to participate in election-observation missions.
The same month, United States President Barack Obama began new economic sanctions against Russia, targeting companies and individuals close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In May the Royal Thai Army overthrew the caretaker government of Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan after a failure to resolve the political unrest in Thailand.
Back in Europe, in June, King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicated in favor of his son, who ascended the Spanish throne as King Felipe VI.
And the political year ended on a positive note, with U.S. President Barack Obama announcing the resumption of normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba after more than half a century.
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Space
The major space event of 2014 happened in November when the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Philae probe successfully landed on Comet 67P, the first time in history that a spacecraft has landed on such an object.
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Sport
The two major world sporting events of 2014 were the XXII Olympic Winter Games, held in Sochi, Russia in February, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, and won by Germany, during June and July.
In American sport the Super Bowl was won by the Seattle Seahawks, the MLB World Series winners were the San Francisco Giants and in basketball the San Antonio Spurs came out on top.
Ice Hockey had three champions in 2014, Canada becoming Olympic champions, Russia world champions and in the NHL the Los Angeles Kings were the victors.
In tennis at the world famous Wimbledon Tournament in England Novak Djokovic became Men’s Singles Champion and Petra Kvitova Ladies Singles Champion, while the men’s and women’s winners of the US Open were Marin Čilić and Serena Williams respectively.
In Soccer, as noted above, Germany won the 2014 World Cup. The European Champions League winners were Real Madrid and the English Premiership was won by Manchester City.
The Formula 1 motor racing champion for 2014 was British driver Lewis Hamilton, who also picked up the award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
In golf’s major championships, the Masters Tournament, held in April, was won by Bubba Watson by three strokes. It was his second Masters championship.
May saw the BMW PGA Championship where young Northern Ireland man Rory McIlroy birdied the 18th hole to win by one stroke over Irishman Shane Lowry, who also birdied the 18th hole.
In June, U.S. Open winner was Martin Kaymer who won by eight strokes to become the first German player to win the U.S. Open, and the first player to win the Players Championship and the U.S. Open in the same year.
In July, the Open Championship Northern Ireland man Rory McIlroy, was on top again winning by two strokes over Rickie Fowler and Sergio García. It was his third career major championship, and his first Open Championship. With the win, he became the fourth player ever of 25 years old or under to have won at least three majors.
In August, McIlroy was back, winning the PGA Championship by one stroke over Phil Mickelson. He was having quite a year, it was his fourth career major and his second PGA Championship.
Then in September, in the Ryder Cup, Team Europe (also including McIlroy) defeated Team USA by a score of 16½ – 11½. It was the third consecutive Ryder Cup victory for Europe, and also Europe’s fifth consecutive home victory in the Ryder Cup.
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Tragedies
In March Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 airliner en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, disappears over the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people on board. The aircraft is presumed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean.
In April Korean ferry MV Sewol capsized and sunk after an unmanageable cargo shift. More than 290 people were killed, mostly high school students.
In May hundreds of workers were killed in mining accident in Turkey.
In July, Air Algérie Flight 5017 crashed in Mali, killing all 116 people on board.
And just a few days ago AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashed, wreckage has been found off the coast of Indonesia’s Kalimantan coast.
Yes, everyone it’s Quiz Day again at the fasab blog.
You will find out about ‘Bruce’ when you do the quiz, which I hope you will.
And remember, as always, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: In radio what does ‘FM’ stand for?
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Q. 2: What breed of dog is the tallest in the world?
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Q. 3: And what is the smallest breed of dog?
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Q. 4: The marine mammal, the ‘dugong’, is the supposed original of what?
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Q. 5: Chance to build up a good score here with a possible 7 points available. In the business world what do these well known acronyms stand for? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get all 6 correct.)
a) IBM b) HP c) CNN d) DHL e) HTC f) CVS
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Q. 6: What common chemical compound is represented by the formula ‘nh3’?
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Q. 7: What is a ‘quadruped’?
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Q. 8: What Italian physicist, mathematician, engineer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance, has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy”?
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Q. 9: Still on the subject of space, what recently landed on an asteroid after a ten year journey, bounced twice, ended up in the wrong place and then shut down after its batteries were depleted?
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Q. 10: What is the name of the little naked bow-carrying statue that historically represents ‘intimate love’, and ‘desire’? (You can also earn a bonus point if you can name his ‘brother’.)
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Q. 11: Of what is Bamboo the tallest variety in the world?
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Q. 12: Which bacteria is responsible for typhoid and food poisoning?
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Q. 13: What is the name given to someone who studies plants?
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Q. 14: What is the mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur better known as?
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Q. 15: What is ‘-459.7ºf’ also know as?
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Q. 16: What common medical procedure and what type of drink are included in the standard phonetic alphabet?
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Q. 17: How many cubic inches are there in a cubic foot?
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Q. 18: How many years is it since the start of the ‘Great War’?
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Q. 19: The invention of what in 1867, made Alfred Nobel famous?
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Q. 20: His nickname was ‘Bruce’ and he was the star of what became the highest-grossing film in history at the time of its release in 1975, and the most successful motion picture of all time until Star Wars. What was the name of the movie?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: In radio what does ‘FM’ stand for?
A. 1: Frequency Modulation.
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Q. 2: What breed of dog is the tallest in the world?
A. 2: No, not the Great Dane, the correct answer is Irish Wolfhound.
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Q. 3: And what is the smallest breed of dog?
A. 3: The Chihuahua. (In fact I think it is so small it doesn’t merit the extra ‘hua’.)
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Q. 4: The marine mammal, the ‘dugong’, is the supposed original of what?
A. 4: The Mermaid, the name ‘dugong’ means ‘lady of the sea’.
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Q. 5: Chance to build up a good score here with a possible 7 points available. In the business world what do these well known acronyms stand for? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you get all 6 correct.)
a) IBM b) HP c) CNN d) DHL e) HTC f) CVS
A. 5: a) IBM International Business Machines b ) HP Hewlett Packard.
c) CNN Cable Network News d) DHL Daisey Hillblom Lynn
e) HTC High Tech Computer f) CVS Consumer Value Stores
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Q. 6: What common chemical compound is represented by the formula ‘nh3’?
A. 6: Ammonia.
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Q. 7: What is a ‘quadruped’?
A. 7: Any four footed animal.
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Q. 8: What Italian physicist, mathematician, engineer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance, has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy”?
A. 8: His name is Galileo, or more properly Galileo Galilei.
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Q. 9: Still on the subject of space, what recently landed on an asteroid after a ten year journey, bounced twice, ended up in the wrong place and then shut down after its batteries were depleted?
A. 9: The European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta Mission Philae comet lander. (You earn a point if you said either ‘Rosetta’ or ‘Philae’ in your answer.)
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Q. 10: What is the name of the little naked bow-carrying statue that historically represents ‘intimate love’, and ‘desire’? (You can also earn a bonus point if you can name his ‘brother’.)
A. 10: His name is ‘Eros’ and his brother’s name is ‘Anteros’ who supposedly represents reflective or returned mature love.
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Q. 11: Of what is Bamboo the tallest variety in the world?
A. 11: Grass.
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Q. 12: Which bacteria is responsible for typhoid and food poisoning?
A. 12: Salmonella.
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Q. 13: What is the name given to someone who studies plants?
A. 13: A Botanist.
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Q. 14: What is the mixture of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulphur better known as?
A. 14: Gunpowder.
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Q. 15: What is ‘-459.7ºf’ also know as?
A. 15: Absolute Zero. (So now if anyone asks you what the government has achieved you can answer ‘-459.7ºf’.)
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Q. 16: What common medical procedure and what type of drink are included in the standard phonetic alphabet?
A. 16: X-ray = X and Whiskey = W.
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Q. 17: How many cubic inches are there in a cubic foot?
A. 17: 1728. (12 x 12 x 12)
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Q. 18: How many years is it since the start of the ‘Great War’?
A. 18: 100 years this year. The Great War is also now known as World War I.
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Q. 19: The invention of what in 1867, made Alfred Nobel famous?
A. 19: Dynamite.
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Q. 20: His nickname was ‘Bruce’ and he was the star of what became became the highest-grossing film in history at the time of its release in 1975, and the most successful motion picture of all time until Star Wars. What was the name of the movie?
A. 20: The movie was ‘Jaws’, and ‘Bruce’ was the nickname give to the ‘shark’ they used in it.
In a post way back on July 20 that I called “Why Are The Bureaucrats Destroying What Made America Great?”, I highlighted the fact that the giant American pharmaceutical company Abbvie was planning to relocate to the UK in an effort to get away from punishing US taxes. (Click here if you want to read it.)
I also said that by abandoning the business friendly environment that had made it the wealthiest nation on Earth, the bureaucrats in the United States were creating a hostile place to try to do business to the extend that a growing number were leaving.
Ahem…. better make that, ‘trying to leave’.
Because rather than trying to make the US a more attractive place to do business, Obama’s bureaucrats have instead decided it to make it more difficult for them to leave.
The US government introduced new legislation recently which effectively put an end to the biggest corporate takeover of the year.
In the wake of new rules penalizing inversions, the Illinois based pharmaceutical giant, AbbVie, has walked away from its bid to acquire Shire, the Irish drug maker, for $54 billion blaming “….impact of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s unilateral changes to the tax rules”.
AbbVie will have to pay Shire a breakup fee of $1.6 billion, which is effectively money down the drain.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post that I called “Why are the bureaucrats destroying what made America great?” (if you want to refer to it please click here)
In it I posed the question as to why a self-defeating wealth-distributing philosophy is taking the place of the business-friendly environment that America is famed for and that made it the wealthiest nation on Earth. And why the bureaucrats are trying to make it increasingly more difficult and expensive for businesses to operate in the US rather than offering more incentives and encouragement.
The example I gave in the previous post was the huge pharmaceutical corporation called AbbVie, which was relocating from Chicago, Illinois, to Europe and thereby effectively cutting its tax bill in half – a significant saving when you are generating billions of dollars in revenue each year.
Now the latest corporation to show its frustration with the way things are deteriorating in America is the Miami based fast food giant Burger King. It is currently in merger talks with Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, in a deal that would allow Burger King to relocate out of the US with a view to trying to cut its “big whopper” of a tax bill too.
Since the new company would be headquartered in Canada, Burger King would no longer be liable for punitive US taxes which are now regarded as the highest among developed economies.
It’s another high profile example of what is called an ‘inversion’ deal, a strategy that allows US firms to lower their tax bills by merging with a foreign company, and then relocating to the new country.
The Obama administration’s response has been predictable – cry foul, say it’s not fair, and tell these corporations to forget about the best strategy for their business and just wrap themselves in the Star Spangled Banner.
“My attitude,” the President declared in July, “is I don’t care if it’s legal — it’s wrong.”
It’s great to love your country, but it’s tough when the government of your country doesn’t love you back! And it will take more than bogus emotional claptrap to change the minds of hard-headed businessmen.
What Obama and his henchmen should be doing is asking themselves why it is happening and what THEY are doing wrong that makes these giant wealth creating corporations want to get out of America as fast as they can.
But they won’t do that.
That would make sense – and sense is the last thing that the bureaucrats want to apply to any situation.
So they’ll continue to spend money they don’t have, on things the country can’t afford and probably doesn’t need, and then pass the bill on to the tax payers.
Their short term solution to these corporate inversion deals will be to try to legislate to make them illegal. Good luck with that, I have never seen legislation drafted by an idiot bureaucrat that a team of top corporate lawyers couldn’t drive a coach and horses through.
So rather than stopping the exodus, it’s more of a question of what will be the next corporation to leave???
fasab 