Hearing Europe’s top anti-trust regulator say that Apple owes Ireland €13 billion in back taxes, I thought of the Belgian surrealist artist, René Magritte. When Magritte said “Everything we see hides another thing,” he could have been talking about corporate taxes.…
Ireland’s Unbelievable GDP
Based on GDP statistics, Ireland’s GDP growth rate of 26.3% is misleading because it is boosted by corporate tax inversions.
Why Apple Should Not Increase Its Tax Bill
Based on a tax code that was made for an industrial age, current corporate taxes that multinationals like Apple could owe need to reflect a digital world.
Should Water Be Free?
Although protestors in Detroit and Ireland say water is a human right, economists, citing a definition of a public good and a tornado alarm, would disagree.
Who Works the Hardest in the Euro Zone?
I just discovered a surprising statistic. In the euro zone, judged by hours per week, the Germans are not nearly the hardest workers. Instead Greece, with an average of 42.1 hours is close to the top of the list. By…
Euro-Zone Rates
Please match each of the following countries with its unemployment rate and borrowing rate: Countries: Germany, Greece, Ireland; and the U.S. and the U.K. Unemployment rates: 9.1%, 7.7%, 7%, 15.9%, 14.8% 2-year bond rates: .5%, 4.5%, 1.75%, 29.69%, 12.95% The…
A Debt Tour
Calling it “financial disaster travel journalism,” author Michael Lewis (The Blind Side and The Big Short) takes us to Iceland, Ireland, and Greece in 3 Vanity Fair articles that are wonderful. Comparing Iceland to Ireland, he tells us, “But while…
More of a Contagious Disease
From FT.com: “The Irish say they are not Greece. The Portuguese say they are not Irish. The Spanish finance minister said last week that Spain is not Portugal. There are no prizes for guessing what Italy is not.” Also, This…
