Sorry folks, this post is a longer than usual. Yet so soon after celebrating our 4th of July Independence, Im pissed! And for those who know me, this is not usual. To be fair, those on this Corporate cheat list are not technically cheats rather they avoid taxes, leveraging existing domestic & international laws to do so. In other words, they have some very smart finance & legal folks working for them. I worked with some of them, trust me, their smart ;-) My issue: Whether corporate or individual, if one chooses to renounce their US citizenship for another country, they should also lose all rights as US citizens. Unfortunately, this isnt the case. IMHO, Heres why: Background: Thanks to the 13th Amendment and some very smart lawyers back then (keep in mind the original intent was to abolished slavery and involuntary servitude); combined with recent legal decisions, US corporations are now treated as individuals with all the rights and, honesty more, than the very US citizens who make their businesses run. For example, when things go really wrong (i.e. WorldCom) they just change their name (now theyre CenturyLink). If any of us (flesh and blood people) file for bankruptcy, try to change your identity after and start anew ;-) Lets not even discuss what happens when corporations sponsor revolution, murder and worse ;-) IMHO, regardless the reasons why, if a US company decides, for whatever reasons, to no longer be a US company, rather an Irish, Swiss, or other tax haven national company; than they should also lose all rights to lobby, influence their employees or act in any way detrimental to the interests of those of us who choose to be US citizens!!!! A recent example, and one thats heart breaking to me, Walgreens. If not already, their executive board is considering becoming a foreign national company. Its because of Walgreens considered actions Im writing this post! Why? Personally, I think Walgreens is a great company. In fact, when I think of a US born companies, representative and embodying the dreams envisioned by our forefathers, Walgreens is one of the 1st that come to mind. Started at the turn of the 20th century, Walgreens is still Walgreens! It hasnt merged or morphed into something else. Its one of the greatest American brands I know and believe in. Yet, pressured in big part by their largest institutional investors and ONLY for financial reasons,Walgreens may disavow its US citizenship for better tax breaks. Keep in mind, these breaks will cost all US taxpayers BILLIONS over the next few years. And, Im only talking what Wagreens will cost us. While I think this is a huge long term disaster for Walgreens, unconscionable as it may be, the biggest issue I have, using Walgreens as an example, and theyre many worse; for the 2010 elections Walgreens corporate PAC spent almost $1M to promote their corporate interests. Why am I bothered by this? My point of this post ... If indeed Walgreens or any US corporation, chooses to become a foreign national, in the same way if a US citizen decides to renounce their citizenship for another county ... they also lose their rights as a US citizen, not the least of witch, to vote in a US election. Wait, you say US companies already cant vote. Please ... these days PACs carry exponentially more influence, power and end results than our votes ;-) Enough said, thanks for reading.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 04:37:45 +0000
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