Roger Kimball has an interesting article about the EU vs Apple. He mentions that Apple has parked $137 billion offshore to avoid US corporate taxes and the EU has decided that maybe it can get some of that. In many ways I side with Apple as it fights against the confiscatory tax regimes who seek to profit from their business acumen. What Apple sells in the United States is fully taxed by the United States. What it sells in Europe is governed entirely by the incredible regulatory state that is the EU. Being the EU, that regulatory state is 100% based on preserving the money and power of the ancient oligarchs which, necessarily, requires the rules to be written in such a manner as to protect the nouveau rich oligarchs like Apple, Starbucks, etc.
It occurs to me though that Apple could BUY a country outright for a fraction of that profit it is accumulating offshore and then write the tax policies that it finds convenient. Oops. Wait, I think that's what the EU thinks happened in Ireland.
I read a book a long time ago with that kind of premise. It involved the Swiss and their banking system which had for so long refused to cough up the money the rest of the world insisted was theirs. So the rest of the world nuked the recalcitrant Swiss until they glowed. Being the Swiss, they were all quite safe in their armored underground bunkers and redoubts and being Swiss were the most heavily armed country in Europe. Neutral doesn't mean impotent.
On the other hand, we're talking in this case about the Palestinians of Europe and you know what they say about Palestinians, they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It is also said that an honest politician is one who stays 'bought'. We shall see what the Dáil trots out as the EU destroys every freedom their forefathers won through war and revolution over 600 years.
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