Obama Plans A Hit On Tech Giants

The Obama administration has a plan to hit tech companies with higher overseas taxes crippling their overseas operations.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- President Barack Obama's plan to impose U.S. taxes on corporate America's overseas profits threatens to open a big crater in the financial statements of technology companies.

While additional taxes are rarely popular, Obama's decision to go after corporate earnings outside the United States is a particularly prickly subject for technology executives because the industry has been steadily boosting its overseas sales amid rising demand for its gadgetry and services.

If Obama's proposal becomes law, the hard-hit companies would include tech bellwethers like Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.

Ah. Yes. Wonderful. Obama wants to make American Corporations less competitive in foreign markets. I'm sure governments outside the USA are very pleased with this development.

Obama has been strongly supported so far by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who campaigned for the president last year and has subsequently served as a technology adviser.

Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich said Monday it was too early to evaluate how Obama's tax proposal might affect the Internet search leader's operations because the idea is likely to be revised as it wends its way through Congress.

What does that mean? Rather simple really. Google will pay for the legislation it wants. Obama is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is our Smartest President Ever™.

Wille Sutton is reputed to have said that he robbed banks because, "that is where the money is". He would have done much better as a Congress Critter if the barriers to entry into that business weren't so high.