Hold on...are they talking about extending Greece a loan or simply paying of it debts in return for said benefits?<p>The problem with a loan is that loans need to be repaid, and Greece seems unwilling to take the kind of internal reforms needed to generate enough revenue to pay back loans.<p>The issue has never been the willingness of others to extend Greece a bailout - it has been the <i>unwillingness</i> of Greece to accept the kinds of conditions attached to such bailouts. If Greece was willing and able to commit to the right kinds of internal reforms, then I am sure that Germany and other countries would be quite happy to extend another bailout. No-one (in the EU at least) wants to see Greece collapse.<p>On the other hand, simply giving away $200B for the kind of sweetheart tax deal that is usually achieved simply by gracing a country with the presence of a multinational headquarters (bestowing employment, secondary industries and prestige), seems to be insanely bad business. I mean, even if they wanted to bribe their way in, would it not be far more effective to bribe politicians a few tens of $M rather than an entire country $200B?
Apple could buy Greece, become a government and exempt itself from income taxes for the next 10,000 years!<p>(And replace apple symbol with olive too)<p>>> ...and the American companies will keep accumulating cash they don't know how to spend.<p>Not too many US companies are having this problem though.
People like this guy are exactly what brought Greece down to its knees. Corporations and rich individuals being able to "buy" themselves into special deals excluding the general population led to the mind-blowing amount of corruption that is the main culprit of the current crisis. Sure, why not fix it with a few more Fakelaki? Seriously, people regarding (only!) 35% of taxes as an "issue" needing to be resolved instead of just the fair share of responsibility for an education and infrastructure companies take and use for free every day make me wanna puke.
There are several problems with this concept, the first of which has been mentioned several times - that rich entities not paying tax is one of the root problems in Greece in the first place.<p>Other problems include that laws can always be amended. A law is only as hardy as your next election, and once Greece gets the money, you have no further leverage. We saw that happen at the last election, with the current government throwing out the previous government's solution to the problem.<p>Another issue is that without significant reform of government and some changes in society, Greece will end up in exactly the same place if it goes back to 'business as usual' - something which would be very easy to do if bailed out by an entity that has no future leverage.<p>Similarly, first-world countries with decent economies are doing their utmost to reverse the trend of tax havens, and if Greece did this, they would suffer politically in other ways as a result.<p>Edit: And then, of course, there is the question: Why would Apple spend $100B to secure a tax haven for themselves? Not only are there already quite a few tax havens to choose from, including in Europe, but if they turned around and decided to pay their fair share of domestic taxes, it'd take quite a while before their tax load would match their $100B in cash. Who knows what the world would look like then?
The idea is not as ridiculous as it may seem at first glance. Apple, Google, Microsoft and a few other tech companies are together sitting on far more cash than Greece owes to its creditors.<p>The author proposes these companies bail out Greece in exchange for permanent low taxes on non-US operations.
I always thought that Kim Stanley Robinson's "meta nationals" from the Red Mars series seemed too probable to really be science fiction.
While a nice idea, it would set a bad example, since Greece's main problem is that all large companies (including the Greek Orthodox Church) and rich people pay next to no tax.
That we permit corporations (particularly public ones) to accumulate such massive cash reserves seems absurd. Perhaps we should consider an 'idleness' tax on overly large corporate cash reserves to ensure that the money is put to work.
Apple philosophically isn't interested in making money. That's a byproduct. How does this further Apple's goals of making better products? Does Greece have infrastructure to invest in, like lithium or silicon?<p>> Unless Apple starts building cars -- or perhaps spaceships -- it will keep accumulating cash.<p>Yeah, I think both of those are more likely than bailing out Greece.