Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Obama Cracks Down

by JASmius



Maybe this anti-"corporate inversion" tirade is the opening of his final endgame move to seize the means of production and nationalize the private sector once and for all.  The tone and tenor of his remarks certainly suggest it:

Barack Obama issued a forceful denunciation of companies that shield profit overseas through corporate inversions, praising new rules that would curb what he called one of the U.S. tax system’s most insidious loopholes.

 i.e. It's effective.

“This is something that I’ve been pushing for a long time,” Obama said at the White House Tuesday, a day after the Treasury [Commissaria]t announced the new measures. “When companies exploit loopholes like this, it makes it hard to invest in the kinds of things that are going to keep America’s economy going strong.”

It's not your goddamn money to "invest," Barry, it's theirs.  But you think it's all yours, don't you?  "How dare you steal your own money back from me!  Stop, anti-thief!"

The rules, which would limit companies’ ability to participate in inversions if they’ve already done them within the past thirty-six months, could thwart a planned $160 billion merger between Pfizer Inc. and Allergan Plc. Allergan has been involved in repeated inversions, under which a U.S. company adopts a foreign tax address, a move that can reduce its American tax bill.

Obama dropped in on Tuesday’s daily White House press briefing to underscore the new rules. He called inversions “one of the most insidious loopholes out there,” and emphasized the importance of restoring faith in the U.S. tax system.

"Faith" that it rapaciously robs, pillages, and otherwise shakes down American individual and corporate taxpayers, not to mention oppressing conservative activist groups and suppressing the Republican vote.  The only way that the U.S. tax system will EVER have any faith restored in it is when you're no longer in charge of it, Barry.

Republicans in Congress have called for addressing the issue in the context of comprehensive corporate tax reform. Obama, who has said inversions result from an “unpatriotic tax loophole,” faulted lawmakers for not having acted yet. [emphasis added]

"The context of comprehensive corporate tax reform" means cutting what are the highest corporate tax rates in the civilized world back to reasonably sane levels, so as to remove the gaping incentive for large companies to engage in corporate "inversions" in the first place.  But then cutting corporate tax rates is just as "unpatriotic" as corporate inversions, aren't they?  Because both constitute taxpayers "stealing back" "your" stash, right Barry?

Pfizer, the manufacturers of Viagra, have certainly gotten the, er, "deflating" message:

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and Ireland-based Allergan Plc formally announced the scrapping of their $160 billion merger on Wednesday, in a big win for Barack Obama who has been pushing to curb tax-slashing "inversion" deals.

The announcement followed the unveiling of new U.S. Treasury rules on Monday aimed at curbing such deals. The merger would have allowed New York-based Pfizer to cut its tax bill by redomiciling to Ireland, where tax rates are lower. [emphasis added]

 HINT, HINT.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday that the deal would be terminated.

Ah, but that doesn't mean that there won't be any deal at all; simply that U.S. companies are forbidden from participation in them:

Allergan said it would report first-quarter results by May 10th, when it would also update on its plans to simplify its operations after the close of its $40.5 billion deal to sell its generic drug business to Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. The deal is expected to close by June.

You know what this "inversion curbing" is?  Extortion and kidnapping.  Barack Obama is holding "corporate America" hostage, and if they try to escape, down comes the "crack".

And the next step?  Nationalization.



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