06.04.09
Is Steve Ballmer Blackmailing Obama?
Summary: Ballmer tells the US government that he will move his workforce to “cheaper” places unless he receives excessive, illegitimate tax relief
WHEN Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie Snyder passed a bribe to the Obama administration (in the form of “sponsorship”) it became pretty evident that whichever party gets elected, it will remain most open… to business. Just watch what the MPAA and RIAA are up to with Obama and Biden. Microsoft is a similar story [1, 2, 3].
Here is a recent summary of articles about Microsoft debt and tax evasion. The short story is that Microsoft is not doing so well financially and it continues to cheat tax systems around the world in order to leave it for others pay tax. Bill Gates hardly pays any tax, either. He and Warren Buffett get exemptions for "charity". It looks decent to the outside world and also works better for accounting.
But these important issues left aside, it all brings us to today’s big story. As the Los Angeles Times puts it, “Ballmer threatens Obama” now.
[T]he software giant’s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, made it clear that the company’s charitable views don’t extend to paying what it considers unfair U.S. tax rates: Ballmer threatened to move more jobs overseas if President Obama prevails with his proposal to end tax breaks on foreign earnings.
As we showed 2 weeks ago, Microsoft already favours jobs overseas. There is a lot more in Bloomberg.
Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steven Ballmer said the world’s largest software company would move some employees offshore if Congress enacts President Barack Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits.
One of our contributors summarised this report as follows: “Steven Ballmer threatens Obama saying he will move employees offshore if Congress enacts Obama’s plans to impose higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits.”
“Wages in the Unites States have been stagnant for about as long as the currency was not tied to gold.”To Microsoft, it’s never about Americans or about employees. It’s about profit, shareholders, and power.
“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Steve Ballmer is quoted as saying (in Bloomberg). As MinceR puts it, if “War is Peace” (Orwell, 1984), then “Wealth is Expensive”. Another, righter way for Ballmer to put it would be: “It raises wages for American people” or “it helps the US economy recover by helping families through higher wages.”
Wages in the Unites States have been stagnant for about as long as the currency was not tied to gold. And companies continued to rob employees, taking a portion of their deserved wages and then selling it back to them via financial institutes, as loans with extortionate interest rates, which means even more money for the wealthy.
Needless to say, none of this whole routine is particularly new. Learning about Abramoff visas might help.
There is more coverage of this in:
- Ballmer Says Tax Would Move Microsoft Jobs Offshore
- Tax plan would send jobs offshore, Ballmer says
- Microsoft speaks against foreign profit tax proposal
One reader, DaemonFC, has suggested that we share the following video, from which we produced an Ogg version too. █
pcolon said,
June 4, 2009 at 8:28 am
IIRC B.Gates tried that also and someone in the US gov blinked. This time Obama should call Ballmer on it and say “Go for it”.
This would be a good starting point to start cleaning government IT infrastructure excising microsoft botnets. As it stands, microsoft is not really an american company anymore since most of its wheeling and dealing is outside the country.
Since it doesn’t pay taxes it might as well pay a tariff.
Needs Sunlight said,
June 4, 2009 at 8:40 am
It can’t be blackmail because getting rid of M$ from the US mainland would be a tremendous economoc boon to industry in general, not just the IT sector.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Microsoft working from abroad is no guarantee of cancelled contracts in the US.
pcolon Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 9:27 am
True, but it may change the game some and open it up to higher scrutiny, even though the same corrupted public officials are still in place. Also it may give OEMs some breathing room as choice may be a more viable option; e.g. ZaReason gives you a choice of the -buntus or no os.. HP Lenovo, Toshiba , etc. do not.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Yes, these are the firms to buy from.
aeshna23 said,
June 4, 2009 at 1:41 pm
As much as I dislike Ballmer and Microsoft, I don’t agree with this analysis in the least. Obama’s economy destroying socialism will lead to massive job loss in America and much greater levels of poverty here. Good for Ballmer for speaking out against it.
Too bad, Microsoft isn’t in the least the type of firm we can point to and say capitalism works. But Adam Smith in 1776 explained that firms like Microsoft which conspire against the consumer will always be a problem.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
June 4th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Or the Invisible Hand that’s invisible because it does not exist. Just look at the current crisis for insight.
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June 15, 2009 at 3:45 pm
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