In a previous post, I mentioned that one of the factors that I believe to be holding back the U.S. economy is that corporations are holding on to piles of cash, rather than infusing the money into the economy. This week I learned that Apple Computer has $97.6 billion dollars in the bank. $97.6 billion, really? That certainly begs the question: what is Apple going to to with all that cash?
I have a couple of ideas. How about paying a dividend on the stock, currently trading at nearly $450 per share? Here is another thought: how about hiring some American workers? I wonder how many new jobs Apple could create with even 1/10th of that amount, or $9.76 billion? Perhaps even 1/100th?
There is “good news” from Apple regarding their cash, however. As Paul R. La Monica reported in CNN’s Tech Buzz earlier in the week (http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/25/technology/thebuzz/), “Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that the company ‘was not letting [the cash] burn a hole in our pockets.'” I have not yet seen any details as to how they plan to spend it, but one of the concerns that Apple seems to have is that a good portion of that money (reportedly $64 billion) is held offshore and if it were infused into the U.S. economy, the company would have to pay taxes on it.
Let me get this straight…this California-based, U.S. company has a mountain of cash which it is not spending, and is being held specifically in a location where most of it is not subject to U.S. taxes? In other words, under their current plans, they are not creating jobs, not stimulating the economy, and are positioned to not pay U.S. taxes for a large share of their profits. Is there any question that Apple’s fiscal policies are helping to keep the U.S. economy in it’s current state? How many other examples of this kind of fiscal policy can be found within U.S. companies?
ErraticThemes 
Why not lower our corporate tax rate? I think this is a perfect example with having the highest corporate tax rate in the world: businesses will flee, which is essentially why companies are leaving CA to more tax friendly states such as AZ. If Apple’s bank account should be of concern to us, it’s an easy fix: stop buying their product. What I find disturbing is POTUS hiring Immelt, CEO of GM, as his Job Czar, and then Immelt closing a factory in Washington only to re-open it in China, WHILE still holding the Czar position. I fins it is disturbing our congress men
Men can engage in insider trading but Martha Stewart can’t. I find it disturbing NO ONE wants to admit government and banks are in bed together, not in a ring together. What doesn’t bother me is a business wanting to sit on cash. On a side note: I guarantee somehow Apple is in business with the government somehow, haha