Returning companies' overseas cash: No tonic for U.S. jobs
Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 7:13 am
CBS - 4/19/2017 - Larry Light - A vast mass of U.S. corporate cash sits overseas, awaiting a tax cut that could bring it back to American shores. President Donald Trump wants to lure the cash to spur job creation. Trouble is, the money is unlikely to make that happen. Why? The largest holders of foreign-based cash are tech titans, and they don’t use as much of their money on capital spending as other industries do. That spending goes for such things as plants, equipment, research -- and, presumably, more jobs. Plus, many company executives (and not just in tech) think extra capital expenditures, a.k.a. capex, won’t boost their profits amid slow economic growth. Should they want to spend it on something, it would be to buy another company. Often, they would rather look like heroes and award the money to investors in the form of stock buybacks and fatter dividend payments. Read more @ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/overseas-co ... ob-growth/