Another Milepost On The Road To Oblivion

If it's July, it means the Aspen Ideas Festival, a place where people with too much money and power get together to complain about the rest of us schlubs.  Chrystia Freeland of Reuters reports:

Yet one of the most interesting threads running through the conversation Tuesday, the first full day of the Aspen Ideas Festival (underwritten in part by Thomson Reuters, where I work) is the fear that America’s days as the land of opportunity, particularly for the middle class, may be numbered.

The first warning came at 7:45 am – a typical start for the wonkish crowd assembled here – from Michael Splinter, CEO of Applied Materials. Splinter was full of Silicon Valley enthusiasm for his company and its prospects: “it very much is the frontier … this really is rocket science.”

But he wasn’t nearly as cheery about the state of his nation. Asked by moderator David Bradley, chairman of Atlantic Media and one of the festival’s hosts, how many of his employees would be in America if he were starting with a blank slate, Splinter said just 20 per cent. “90 per cent of our sales will be outside the U.S.,” he said. “The pull is to be close to our customers. The challenge is how to get jobs in the U.S.”

Splinter said he was worried about America’s deficit and the tax increases he believes will inevitably be required to pay it off. He was tough on the Obama administration – even though he is among the favored CEOs who have been invited to the White House to offer advice.

Splinter had good things to say about corporate sessions with the President. He said that behind closed doors CEOs “were quite honest” in expressing their views, and that the president was “forthcoming.” But, asked a visibly frustrated Splinter, “what are the results?” He wants more R&D spending, a better educational system and – the familiar CEO lament – a more pro-business attitude from Washington.

Yet Splinter’s critique contained its own contradictions: on one hand, he called on the government to spend more on R&D and education, but his chief complaint was that “frankly, our tax rate is not competitive” and that it was likely to increase.

Here's a guy who honestly admits that in exchange for the government lowering or even eliminating corporate taxes and lavishing subsidies upon them, he wants to move 80% of his employees offshore.  He really doesn't understand why Obama just doesn't get it, either and wants to know why the hell this person wants to make his company pay more in taxes.

If I worked for this guy, I'd be looking for another job.  Now.  Get a head start, Applied Materials employees.

And you wonder why we're in a deflationary depression right now after the financial industry nearly eradicated our economy...and still might.