I enjoy reading Mish's blog, but these three quasi guests aren't qualified to clean my kiddie pool.

Setser teaches economics in California.... Berkley to be more specific. A place dedicated to stamping out capitalism and censoring anyone who disagrees with the cult's teachings.

You lost me at Paul Krugman. Academic, political hack. Zero real world experience. Rubbish.

He got kicked out of Princeton for advertising fraud -- he was one of the many people "advertised" to be teaching at Princeton, when in fact he didn't teach a single course. Not one, for years and years. He wrote a complaint op-ed column for the NY Times while drawing a paycheck from Princeton.

Oh, and he wrote some left wing clap trap for the socialist government of sweden -- that was the basis of the memorial prize from socialists for distorting economics.

Why would any company be legally liable on taxes overseas ?

The tax plan was supposed to be reduce the rate and get rid of the loop-holes(credits and deductions). They did the former but not the latter. This result was so predictable.

Theoretically it should not be that easy. The IRS is supposed to review transfer pricing to ensure assets and entities are properly valued to limit fraudulent transactions. Perhaps the IRS is outgunned, but they do take this seriously

When any economist discovers transfer pricing and begins waxing eloquent about tax fairness, I instinctively feel for my wallet. No politician anywhere ever taxed a corporation for anything. It's the customer who's the mark and the customer is just too dumb/disinterested to stand and fight it by insisting the politician speak in total spend and total tax terms to the total citizenry.

However, Hussman is right on that the only way to have actually moved the R&D needle with foreign profit repatriations was to have restricted any tax credit to Future R&D spend rates above actuals. Otherwise, a huge chunk of repatriated profits would simply be fed into the stock buyback furnace, which is exactly what happened.

The really worrisome thing to me is corporate America's blatant admission that they'd rather drive their own capital stock down with buybacks, enhancing their own comp plans, than blaze new trails with innovation...the only thing that actually drives human living standards.

There's a hierarchy of employment for accounting and financial types in terms of skill level and remuneration.

The smartest, most cunning, most creative and most greedy rise to the top of corporate industry and run the show. Some even get to run companies like Enron and RBS or turn dodgy governmental tricks for the vampire squid or float unicorn IPOs.

The next layer down is the senior people at big accountancy firms and auditors, who know which side their bread is buttered on and how to keep the pipeline of base fees plus additional consultancy work flowing freely. Or they are the lobbyists who for the price of a few good meals and a game of golf can persuade politicians to write ever more convoluted, exemption riddled and ineffective tax codes.

Somewhere below that comes the shysters who are driven to come up with tax avoidance schemes, smoke and mirror investment schemes and too good to be true get rich quick schemes. An over-endowment of greed outweighs any intellectual weakness.

Way down near the bottom of the pile are the ones who end up working for tax authorities. Predominantly honest and hard working but hopelessly outclassed and outgunned.

Better still would be to tax revenue instead of profit which can always be fudged. Tax of just 1 or 2% should be sufficient with no tax for those under $500,000 revenue, for example.

Many say it's regressive but I don't buy it and I run a small biz. Widget Co. doesn't give me a break on pricing because I didn't show a profit last year. Why should government?

Government provides a service like everything other: roads, water, police, fire, health, airports, etc. They should get paid for services rendered just like every other vendor.