The Magical Misery Tour

[Gaspar]

Roaring through Minnesota, two massive buses, dubbed The Spookymobiles accompanied by dozens of support vehicles.  Quite a spectacle!

No plans, no designs, just a delivery of fault to others.

Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up AND THAT'S AN INVITATION, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up TO MAKE A RESERVATION, roll up for the misery tour.
The magical misery tour is waiting to take you away,
Waiting to take you away.
Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up WE'VE GOT EVERYTHING YOU NEED, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up SATISFACTION GUARANTEED, roll up for the misery tour.
The magical misery tour is hoping to take you away,
Hoping to take you away.

Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up AND THAT'S AN INVITATION, roll up for the misery tour.
Roll up TO MAKE A RESERVATION, roll up for the misery tour.
The magical misery tour is coming to take you away,
Coming to take you away.
The magical misery tour is dying to take you away,
Dying to take you away, take you away.

[AquaMan]

You don't sing well. Graphics may be your strength.

[Gaspar]

You don't sing well. Graphics may be your strength.

Dude!  I'm an awesome singer. 

[Gaspar]

Hey, guess what?  There were several Luxury Motor-coach builders interested in fulfilling the administrations request for these two vehicles (estimated at 2.2 million dollars). 

The company that the administration chose. . .Quebec-based Prevost Motors.

They are nice.  I would have put some cool graphics on them, like an american flag or perhaps a maple leaf.

I'm very interested to see how this tour goes as the president flaunts his new Canadian vehicles throughout the Midwest.

[AquaMan]

Hey, guess what?  There were several Luxury Motor-coach builders interested in fulfilling the administrations request for these two vehicles (estimated at 2.2 million dollars). 

The company that the administration chose. . .Quebec-based Prevost Motors.

They are nice.  I would have put some cool graphics on them, like an american flag or perhaps a maple leaf.

I'm very interested to see how this tour goes as the president flaunts his new Canadian vehicles throughout the Midwest.

Yeah, I saw that on Fox news this morning too. Good pickup.

I notice you also never researched where the other candidates busses were made. Did you? Neither of you seemed interested in security issues related to domestic construction either. Prevost busses are high quality and in use all over the country. No doubt this one was a choice of the Secret Service and retrofitted in America. Not going to be made public though. Did you consider that?  Hardly worth pursuing those questions when you have such a juicy headline though.

Perhaps Americans should insist that we all ride in BlueBirds. Where was McCain's bus made back in 2008? A VanHool wasn't it? Where was Perry's bus made? Palin's?

[Gaspar]

Yeah, I saw that on Fox news this morning too. Good pickup.

I notice you also never researched where the other candidates busses were made. Did you? Neither of you seemed interested in security issues related to domestic construction either. Prevost busses are high quality and in use all over the country. No doubt this one was a choice of the Secret Service and retrofitted in America. Not going to be made public though. Did you consider that?  Hardly worth pursuing those questions when you have such a juicy headline though.

Perhaps Americans should insist that we all ride in BlueBirds. Where was McCain's bus made back in 2008? A VanHool wasn't it? Where was Perry's bus made? Palin's?

I just thought it a bit entertaining that he's touring factories and vehicle plants in the Midwest in a Canadian vehicle.  Both sad and ironic.

. . .and no, I did not consider where other candidates vehicles are made, because they are not the President of this country, and according to the administration, this is not a "campaign activity," as it is taxpayer funded. 

This is an American President traveling the country to promote american industry in a Canadian vehicle.  You have to see the humor in that.  

It's kinda like the President of GM driving a Honda.

[Gaspar]

. . .Is this the same guy that had a "Made in America" provision in his stimulus bill? 

[AquaMan]

But you know the truth. Danged near every product we use, every day has elements from other countries. The president of GM oversees plants in other countries that build parts for their cars or entire cars for use in our country. Sometimes that is good for us, sometimes not, but global markets are a reality. Why choose his bus for scrutiny?

I find less and less humor in America losing its competitive edge to the likes of China when we are perfectly capable. These are not American policy decisions that drive quality down and move work away from America, its corporate ignorance. I saw a Chinese supervisor of manufacturing being interviewed on PBS last week. He responded to the complaint that Chinese goods were inferior to American goods and only were in demand because of their lower cost. He didn't hesitate. He said, "We can produce better goods and for very little more cost. American business is only interested in the lowest cost, not quality."

Add that to the chairman of Cisco last week interviewed on 60minutes who moved their operations to Ireland because they only have a 12% corporate tax in Ireland. He objected to America having a 35% tax rate and said his stockholders demanded they move. Well, Cisco, your lack of patriotism is hanging out and you seem to be proud of that. Did Cisco ever pay 35%? Who knows, the 60minutes reporter never asked or researched that. What she did ask was, "Would 20% tax rate bring you back?" to which he was evasive, "It would be a start".

These ex-patriot companies love our way of life and its protections. They just don't want to pay for it. You think any of the candidates are using Cisco routers? Bet on it.

[Hoss]

.....They just don't want to pay for it. You think any of the candidates are using Cisco routers? Bet on it.

Not me, I use Linksys...wait, what?

[Gaspar]

Cool!

[patric]

Did Cisco ever pay 35%? Who knows, the 60minutes reporter never asked or researched that. What she did ask was, "Would 20% tax rate bring you back?" to which he was evasive, "It would be a start".
These ex-patriot companies love our way of life and its protections. They just don't want to pay for it. You think any of the candidates are using Cisco routers? Bet on it.

Bet they still paid more taxes than GE...
You know, that corporation whose CEO was appointed head of President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness...

[we vs us]

Add that to the chairman of Cisco last week interviewed on 60minutes who moved their operations to Ireland because they only have a 12% corporate tax in Ireland. He objected to America having a 35% tax rate and said his stockholders demanded they move. Well, Cisco, your lack of patriotism is hanging out and you seem to be proud of that. Did Cisco ever pay 35%? Who knows, the 60minutes reporter never asked or researched that. What she did ask was, "Would 20% tax rate bring you back?" to which he was evasive, "It would be a start".

These ex-patriot companies love our way of life and its protections. They just don't want to pay for it. You think any of the candidates are using Cisco routers? Bet on it.

If the war is fought on tax rate alone, there's no way anyone wins.  Theoretically, Cisco could choose to locate in Somalia where the national corporate tax (I assume) is 0%.  But lowest-price-always-wins isn't axiomatic.  It doesn't always hold true in a given marketplace.  Price(tax) should be generally pegged to value, so that you get something for the amount of money you're paying.  In this context, Cisco has really made a value decision, not simply a price decision.  It's obvious that they can pay less in taxes and get "more" than here -- what's not clear is what that "more" really is.  Is it better workers?  Cheaper workers?  Access to a supply chain or to markets?  A more entrepreneurial spirit?  A more supine government?  There are all kinds of things to weigh here, and dollars to donuts it's not simply a straight balance sheet comparison. 

To me, the real problem with our corporate tax rates isn't so much how expensive we are (or how high the rates are in comparison to other countries); the problem is what we offer for the money.  We don't offer steadily upgraded infrastructure; we don't successfully educate our workforce nor do we make sure the workforce has useful specializations; we don't offer universal healthcare, and instead foist the cost of the health of workers onto businesses; we offer a brand difference that we are purposely dismantling piece by piece piece (the debt ceiling fight is but the crowning achievement to-date of that effort); our payouts to allies and trade partners in the form of military and foreign aid is declining as well.  All of these things have eroded the value of the taxes companies pay in to the kitty.  In some senses, it's no wonder that multinationals like Cisco would re-evaluate their relationship to our country.

[Red Arrow]

Did Cisco ever pay 35%? Who knows, the 60minutes reporter never asked or researched that. What she did ask was, "Would 20% tax rate bring you back?" to which he was evasive, "It would be a start".

My guess would be somewhere between 20% and 35%.

[AquaMan]

The Cisco exec said that any company that didn't leave the US for lower tax rates right now was just stupid. How about that? Ford is stupid. Microsoft? Stupid. Apple? Stupid. That is the level of corporate leadership in America right now and it is very distressing.

BTW, there isn't much infrastructure in Ireland. No real highway program, not much in the way of military defense. Truly, I suspect Cisco could locate in a basement off islands in the South Pacific and pay nothing. Pay a few engineers and outsource construction to China, transfer funds to Swiss bank accounts for the stockholders and look pretty dang smart.

[Conan71]

And keep in mind through all this that taxes and corporate mandates like Obamacare don't kill American jobs, people.  Let's just keep on creating our own reality, it's working so well at reducing the unemployment rate!