Bob Chapman : corporate America has record amounts of cash, because they borrowed it.

Bob Chapman :"The existence of two sets of books has allowed American and European corporations to avoid writing off losses and declaring bankruptcy. At the same time American firms borrowed $289 billion in the first quarter taking their total domestic debt to $7.2 trillion, the highest in history. Yes, corporate America has record amounts of cash, because they borrowed it. That is up $1.1 trillion in three years. This is just the debt of the non-financials that represent the better performing part of the economy. The financial sector and the banks are the walking dead. The debt of these non-financials equals 50% of GDP, another record. Over the past six months we have seen a large inventory buildup, which means the cash figure could be considerably lower now. That inventory has to be sold over the next six months in a slowing economy. Of course, there is $1.5 trillion sitting in the Cayman Islands, but if that is brought home a 35% tax has to be paid, or 39.5% if the previous tax cuts are abandoned. That is almost $600 billion in taxes, which would go a long way to reducing the budget deficit. We should have legislation to bring those funds home. The tax avoidance is anti-America. This advantage, if ended, would in part cause transnational conglomerates to bring production and jobs back to our country. The entire concept of non-financial corporations have lots of cash is a scam. There are few healthy balance sheets. This situation has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with lying and greed." The International Forecaster of August 8th 2010