Hey Early Birds!

May 4, 2009
By DianeVespa

Aaron Shock will be on Fox News Channel “Fox and Friends” morning show tomorrow, (Tuesday) at 5:15 AM (yikes!) Central time, 6:15 AM Eastern.  This would be a good one for the TiVO!

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15 Responses to “ Hey Early Birds! ”

  1. C. J. Summers on May 4, 2009 at 11:50 pm

    Who cares? Oh, wait, is he going to show off his abs?

  2. anotherexjser on May 5, 2009 at 4:00 am

    Aaron Schock, Fox News and morning between 5 a.m. and noon. These are a few of my least favorite things.

  3. Lancer on May 5, 2009 at 4:29 am

    TiVO is such a wonderful invention…why waste it.

  4. Emtronics on May 5, 2009 at 5:15 am

    Sleep in. Nothing here to see

  5. diane on May 5, 2009 at 6:01 am

    CJ – We can only hope! ;)

  6. diane on May 5, 2009 at 6:55 am

    Schock was also on Neil Cavuto yesterday – talking about the Obama plan to curb off-shore tax shelters – it’s all over my head!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmpyHyjfj7Y

  7. Diane Vespa on May 5, 2009 at 9:10 am

    Anotherexjser – Those lyrics would not fit to the melody at all.

  8. Mahkno on May 5, 2009 at 9:25 am

    He used the word ‘Bogus’ … just an observation. Come’s with the age.

    Ok I listened to the Cavuto segment. Sadly, its a limitation of TV, there really weren’t any firm details. Cavuto clearly knew nothing of what he was talking about, which at least he admitted. I believe Schock probably does understand it.

    The issue is.. complicated. Back in the ’90s the tax code was revised in a way that broadened the ability of companies to book profits overseas, repatriate those profits, and avoid domestic taxes. You have many scenarios where products are made here and there and sold somewhere else in a global economy. Where and at what point to do you tax any of that? If something was made domestically and sold domestically, it would seem clear cut. If something was made overseas and sold overseas, likewise clear cut. With stuff being made and assembled and sold all over the world it is much less clear. When you start putting of those checkpoints for where taxes apply, naturally companies can game the system in a way that avoids that roadblock.

    This is symptomatic of all global companies in a global economy. All countries suffer this dilemma. The U.S. does seem to have the greatest reach in its efforts and ability to tax it’s companies and citizens abroad. In the case of the private citizen, we are the only country in the world that taxes it’s expats.

    There is a competitiveness angle but there is a larger debate being played out. Are global companies superior or subservient to nation states. Should domestic companies be allowed to dodge taxes by moving stuff overseas? If they can dodge it, then are they not in some way above the law? Can we legitimately tax companies overseas? The other nations of the world are having this discussion too.

    Do most global companies take advantage of these loopholes, yes they probably do. Will it adversely hurt their competitiveness to close them. Maybe, it really depends on how those companies stack up against their overseas competitors. That will vary greatly by industry and company.

  9. Mahkno on May 5, 2009 at 9:33 am

    The strange bedfellows this issue will make will be amusing.

  10. Brian G on May 5, 2009 at 9:47 am

    Off shore tax havens are not over your head Diane. It’s really quite simple. I form a business in Peoria, and I make and sell plastic action figures of Peoria area bloggers. Don’t laugh, remember pet rocks, so it is possible. you’ll be glad to know that the Diane Vespa doll is my number one seller. The Billy Dennis, not so much. Now I pay my employees well. As they age and gain in skill, they’re better compensated and progress from starter homes to McMansions. I receive a normal economic profit, the same as it I invested it in the market and everyone is happy.

    But I’m getting long in the tooth. I want to retire and follow Paul McCartney, and Eric Clapton on their tours, so I leave my plastics company to my sons and daughters. They decide that they don’t want to follow those burdensome EPA regulations and they learn that the wage rate in Southeast Asia is much much lower. (Child labor We don’t ask, and they don’t tell.)

    The next thing my kids do is set up a foreign subsidiary in the Cayman Islands. The taxes are non-existent and the bank privacy laws can’t be beat. That’s why drug dealers, terrorists, divorced people who want to hide their assets go there. They’ll probably set up their corporation at the Uggland House, a beautiful five story home that is home to some 12,000 corporations.

    Now my latest batch of action figures are on a container ship en route to the docks at Long Beach. The Peoria based company sells these dolls which cost $1.00 to manufacture to the Cayman Island subsidiary which then sells them to the Peoria home office. Through the miracle of transfer pricing, the foreign subsidiary in the land of non-existent taxation makes all the profits and the home office takes all the losses and therefore pays no taxes. Of course, my former company still uses governmental services such as the court system. There is, of course, that pesky lawsuit involving C.J. Summers wanting a second royalty from the sales of my local rock band action figures, but my lawyers cleverly worded the contract so as to entangle him and his former band mates in litigation until long after I’m dead.

    Hope everyone enjoyed my yarn!

    I must confess, I was surprised that Congressman Schock would engage in such risky behavior as talking about foreign tax shelters especially with the Brent Winters conviction. Of course, this is Illinois!

  11. Larry Horse on May 5, 2009 at 11:23 am

    another obsession …………..

    shocking

    didn’t all the right wing hacks talk about how obama was loved by the media.

    isn’t this the same thing ?

    .

  12. middleagedwomanblogging on May 5, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    Gotta love Aaron Schock, votes against the hate crime bill, votes against equal pay but loves those off shore accounts…

  13. middleagedwomanblogging on May 5, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    Wasn’t Schock also instrumental in saddling us with Ken Hinton???

  14. Diane Vespa on May 5, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    MAWB – Ugh! We’re all entitled to the occassional mistake. Lol!

    Larry Horse – I agree he is quite the media darling. It seems the media embraces those that have the ability to connect with an audience. Aaron Schock’s youth and command of ideas and language seems to do just that. I have to agree with him when he emphasizes the importance of
    engaging the younger generation. If all we had to watch was the likes of Harry Reid and say, Arlen Spector God help us all!

    If you are considering it an obsession of MINE, I would just say I feel it relevant to report our local representatives actions on the national scene. I find it pretty impressive that Peoria has frequently been the subject of national news over the last year or so.

    Plus, this is a blog – its not like Billy pays by the column inch. ;)

  15. Mahkno on May 5, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    “command of ideas” I have yet to see anything terribly original come from Schock since he got elected to national office. This offshore tax issue does present him an opportunity to shine, should he embrace it. We will see tho.