No -I have a dislike for the far right in the US. What Im saying is a universal fact that applies to all countries -no matter what their ideology is. It applies to leftist India as much as it applies to the US as it does to communist China. Investor wealth is simply not something the govt can prey on (either by letting politicians confiscate it or by re-distributing it to the working clbutt). If americans think the world stretches from the east coast to the west coast -that is a misunderstanding. My statements take into account the situation elsewhere.
We are talking 2 different things. Salaries and profits are earned by operating in a country and that operation requires the govt to build infrastructure, maintain law & order etc.. That service is provided by the govt at a price and that price is collected in the form of taxes. Capital that is invested (and not earned) doesn't need govt infrastructre for it to exist in the first place. So it doesn't get taxed when brought into the US (or any other country). Only the earned capital is taxed.
Bill Clinton did a pretty good job at balancing the budget -but the neo-cons ruined it. As I read on the wash post, GWB wants to plant a budgets plant by spending even more and deferring the recovery to the next candidate.
Not if it has its origins outside the US before it entered the US. The US govt has something called property laws which invite foreign capital and provide butturances that the capital will not be held hostage to domestic politics. If you don't provide butturances -the capital won't enter the US in the first place. Even India at its left most state didn't confiscate MNCs' wealth. They just asked them to pack up and leave (which is why IBM, Coke etc.. left India in ~1978 leaving many computer engrs high and dry and they brought about the computer revolution which cost the US many jobs).
I didn't suggest the govt shouldn't do anything. But what I would suggest the US govt to do is different from what you would suggest. I would suggest that they devalue the USD so that cost of living comes down and gets to the same level (or not much different from ) other countries. When that happens, companies will find it viable to employ americans instead of Indians without being arm-twisted (which trust me is not doable anyway).
regards -kamal
