Apple now has more cash than the US Govt.

[Hassled]

Here.
It's messing with my head. It's not right, is it?

bloody hell!

Apple isn't spending money on

Foreign aid/domestic aid/large expensive military forces maintaining global peace/importing oil/shoring up banks etc

to add to pedalleurs list

and Massive debt

Futurama had a very entertaining dig at Apple earlier this evening.

I appreciate the differences between the two - it has just shifted my perceptions in a disconcerting way - probably very naive of me. I'm genuinely shocked by it.

I think I have more cash than the US government right now....

Why don't we just do away with money altogether, just start from scratch.
I think this is what 21/12/2012 will be all about.

The people who have the money - the Chinese, for example - won't be giving it up any time soon. The rest of us have got to retrench until things stabilise & build from there. Why is 21/12/12 significant?

Another difference is that Apple can't print money.

those presses have been warming up for a while inflation here we come

Why doesn't the US government make Apple pay extra taxes/contributions instead of taking away from the people.

"Why doesn't the US government make Apple pay extra taxes/contributions instead of taking away from the people."

So a company does well, it turns itself around, it pulls itself back from the brink of complete collapse and then puts money away ready to fund investments in future growth. Their reward for doing so is to face some special new tax that will take their savings away. And that will help the economy recover how? If companies are faced with the fact that saving and investing for their future will just land them with a huge tax bill what do you think they're going to do? Save and invest? Or blow it all and damn the future? Or head overseas and stop paying any tax at all to the Government?

There might well be a case to ask all companies to pay more money in tax, but just to pick on one famous example isn't going to help any.

Yes, but my 4 year old has more real, spendable cash in his piggy bank than the US government has, a grand total of....£4.23. What's the conversion rate these days ?

@mumblejumble... because the Tea Party nazis won't let them tax anyone, never mind Apple.