Free Republic

This column was co-authored by Congressman J. Randy Forbes.Avid Chipotle customers seeking carnitas burritos for dinner may be disappointed over the coming weeks. The restaurant giant is reportedly no longer serving pork at about a third of its locations after it dropped a pork supplier that failed to live up to the corporation’s standards of humane animal care. Despite the possibility that Chipotle’s decision to pull pork from almost a third of its restaurants will come at a cost, the corporation’s commitment to serving “food with integrity” has outweighed its quest for financial gain. “We would rather not serve pork...

The first time we read the recent analysis by the Sunlight Foundation in which it combed through 14 million corporate records, including data on campaign contributions, lobbying expenditures, federal budget allocations and spending, in order to determine the "rate of return" on lobbying and spending to buy political goodwill, we were left speechless. To be sure, we had previously shown that when it comes to the rate of return on lobbying, the rates were simply staggering, and ranged anywhere between 5,900% for oil subsidies, to 22,000% for multinational tax breaks and even higher for America's legal drug dealers.  But...

A man I know was a top executive at a major American media company, one of the biggest and most influential in the world. A young man came into his office one day asking to display a rainbow sticker with the words “safe space.” This was a decade ago and this man, a faithful Catholic, felt confident he could demur without reprisal though he could see the veiled threat of being “outed” as less than gay friendly, as a homophobe.But, in these post-Brendan Eich days, it is doubtful my friend would feel as safe to say no because things...

The biggest obstacle for Coca-Cola and Pepsi these days isn’t tied to taste tests, the declining popularity of sugary drinks or even their century-long rivalry. It’s the surging U.S. dollar. The two soda giants rely on overseas customers for roughly half of their revenue. When they turned in their quarterly results last week, both reported a drop in sales. The strong dollar made all the difference: strip it out and shrinking sales suddenly rise. The dollar has been a source of constant complaint this earnings season. Global corporations from Avon Products to Yum Brands have said their quarterly results would...

President Barack Obama will propose raising $238bn by levying a one-off tax on the cash piles held by US companies overseas to repair the US’s crumbling roads and bridges. The measure, a key plank of the US president’s budget to be outlined on Monday, would impose a 14 per cent “transition” tax on the estimated $2tn in earnings US companies have amassed overseas, the White House said on Sunday. Critics say the existing offshore cash mountains testify to the aggressive foreign tax planning by US companies, while businesses cite them as evidence of the handicaps they face under an uncompetitive...

The investigative arm of the Department of Justice is attempting to short-circuit the legal checks of the Fourth Amendment by requesting a change in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. These procedural rules dictate how law enforcement agencies must conduct criminal prosecutions, from investigation to trial. Any deviations from the rules can have serious consequences, including dismissal of a case. The specific rule the FBI is targeting outlines the terms for obtaining a search warrant. It's called Federal Rule 41(b), and the requested change would allow law enforcement to obtain a warrant to search electronic data without providing any specific...

Al Sharpton is being paid thousands of dollars to not cry 'racism' at large corporations, it is claimed**SNIP** For more than 10 years, firms have reportedly handed over enormous donations and consulting fees to the activist preacher's National Action Network (NAN) In return for their cash, they have received Sharpton's supposed influence in the black community - or more often, his silence on the matter, it is reported. 'Al Sharpton has enriched himself and NAN for years by threatening companies with bad publicity if they didn’t come to terms with him,' said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal &...

PepsiCo wants in. So do Caterpillar and Marriott International. Within hours of President Obama’s historic move to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba, companies in the United States were already developing strategies to introduce their products and services to a market they have not been in for the better part of 50 years — if ever. “Cuba is a potential market for John Deere products and services,” Ken Golden, a spokesman for Deere & Company, a leading maker of farm and construction equipment based in Illinois, said by email. But while there may be robust opportunities for some companies, especially...

Leading U.S. CEOs, angered by the Obama administration's challenge to certain "workplace wellness" programs, are threatening to side with anti-Obamacare forces unless the government backs off, according to people familiar with the matter. Major U.S. corporations have broadly supported President Barack Obama's healthcare reform despite concerns over several of its elements, largely because it included provisions encouraging the wellness programs.

Don’t be surprised to lose if you don’t make an effort at being competitive.And if you go out of your way to make yourself less competitive, expect to lose.If that sounds like simple common sense, that’s because it is.But it’s also exactly what the US has been doing for years—enacting tax policies that sabotage its global economic competitiveness.It’s like trying to get in shape for a marathon by going on an all-McDonald’s diet. (Speaking of McDonalds, check out this funny video spoof of what their commercials should really look like.)Here are two major reasons why the US is lagging in...

It’s not just fat cat hedge funds, banks or Wall Street investment companies that benefit when U.S. companies cut their tax bills by moving their headquarters overseas via mergers with foreign concerns. More than a dozen state government pension funds that run retirement accounts for government workers like teachers, cops and firemen own big chunks in these “corporate deserters,” too. Five U.S. companies merging with overseas concerns have big state government pension investments amounting to nearly $2 billion, based on data provided by Richard Peterson, senior director at S&P Capital IQ. But you don’t hear about government pension investments in...

I suppose it's natural that the average American believes that the Crash of 2008 was caused by greedy bankers and that the problem with health insurance is insurance company profits. After all, most Americans work for big companies, and they know that at any moment corporate security could appear at their cubicle to escort them to the exit. Employees know the power their bosses have over them; why shouldn't the bosses have the same power to work their will over politicians? Not only that, but politicians pose as the worker's friend. We'll protect you from the ravishings of your lascivious...

Sometimes even journalists get it right. My essay about companies incorporating overseas to dodge taxes, “Positively Un-American,” featured in our last issue, clearly struck a nerve. Since its publication, these corporate “inversions”—a euphemism for “desertions”—have taken on a life of their own. Barely a day seems to pass without a corporation announcing that it plans to leave the U.S. to save taxes but wants to continue having its business, its employees, its directors, and especially its top executives benefit from our rule of law, democratic system, and the other great things that make America America. It just doesn’t want to...

From our fields to our forks, huge corporations have an overwhelming amount of power over our food supply every step of the way. Right now there are more than 313 million people living in the United States, and the job of feeding all of those people is almost entirely in the hands of just a few dozen monolithic companies. If you do not like how our food is produced or you don't believe that it is healthy enough, it isn't very hard to figure out who is to blame. These mammoth corporations are not in business to look out for...

The team here has had plenty of great coverage since the Hobby Lobby decision came down, but there are still elements of not only the court case, but the highly vocal opposition to it which leave me puzzled. There has been plenty of analysis regarding the religious freedom aspect of the case, particularly from Ed, and that is certainly an important facet of the discussion. But I find myself even more perplexed by the arguments I’ve been seeing regarding the nature of personhood vis-à-vis corporations and how they shouldn’t be eligible for the various assurances found in the bill...

A little less than two years ago, Gregory D. Wasson, the chief executive of Walgreen, sought a series of tax breaks from Illinois, where his company is based. “We are proud of our Illinois heritage,” he said at the time. “Just as our stores and pharmacies are health and daily living anchors for the communities we serve, we as a company are now recommitted to serving as an economic anchor for northeastern Illinois.” The state gave Walgreen $46 million in corporate income tax credits over 10 years in exchange for a pledge to create 500 jobs and invest in upgrading...

Two major national anti-obesity campaigns supported by first lady Michelle Obama and former President Clinton treat overweight Americans as “idiots” too dumb to figure out what's good for them, according to a new academic study.Worse, said the study from a George Washington University professor, the Obama-backed Partnership for a Healthier America and Clinton supported Alliance for a Healthier Generation blame consumers and not the makers of unhealthy food for the obesity epidemic.“I found that these organizations might more appropriately be called the ‘Partnership for a Healthier Bottom Line,' ” said associate sociologist professor Ivy Ken in the influential academic journal...

Walgreen, America's venerable drug-store chain, is thinking the unthinkable: relocating to Europe. Not because it sees growth and opportunity there, but because of onerous taxes here in the U.S. It's an ominous trend. The Financial Times of London calls it "one of the largest tax inversions ever." That is, a company seeking to avoid punitive taxes in one market by moving to another. No doubt the FT is right. And after its recent $16 billion takeover of Swiss-based Alliance Boots, it would be easy for Walgreen to remake itself as a Swiss company. If it did, the Democratic Party's liberals...

OK it's not Walmart, but it's a serious issue nevertheless. America needs to keep, start, build and GROW global companies right here in America. Stop this nonsense.

New Jersey’s shakedown tactics have spread. California, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska, and Virginia have been among the states named in congressional testimony for trying to levy corporate taxes on firms whose only substantial connection is a visiting truck. In one typical case, when a small Milwaukee transportation firm, LTL Trucking, answered a Nebraska tax questionnaire by acknowledging that its trucks had driven through the state in recent years, it received a back-tax bill of $1,321, despite having no inventory, customers, or sales there. Manufacturers delivering products to customers in locations where the firms don’t otherwise operate have found...