Media Slant

I'm so happy I discovered Bloomberg.com! I love to listen to Bloomberg Radio while futzing around. I especially enjoy the show "Bloomberg on the Economy" with Tom Keene. It's a comfort to listen to actual smart people talking bluntly about what's going on.

But I laughed this morning when I read the headline "Obama Seeks to End Tax-Haven Strategies That Save Companies $190 Billion." My first thought was, "You mispelled, '... that cost taxpayers $190 billion.'"

The article itself mentions that the administration's rationale for the change is that the current policy creates an unfair advantage for multi-nationals versus purely domestic companies, and that the recommendation was made in 2005 by the nonpartisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The headline seeks to make Obama look like a bad guy for wanting the biggest multinational corporations to pay more than the 2.3% tax rate they are effectively paying now. (The top tax rate for domestic companies is 35%.) If you have ever lost or feared losing a job due to offshoring, it might bother you to know that our current taxation system rewards companies for moving jobs overseas.