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Fun Number; Apple Has Twice As Much Cash As The US Government
Forbes ^ | 4/13/2014 | Tim Worstall

Posted on 04/13/2014 8:19:56 AM PDT by RightGeek

And, for good measure, Microsoft has more cash at hand that Uncle Sam does. [snip] It’s a very fun number, to be sure, but it’s not quite right for a number of economic reasons. It’s true that when you look at the balance sheets then Apple, say, has $160 billion in cash available, that Microsoft MSFT has a little under $85 billion and the Treasury only has $49 billion to hand to keep the government working. But it’s not really true for a couple of reasons that we’ll get to.

[snip]

The first and most obvious being that the government has entirely unlimited amounts of cash. Because they’re the people that create it.

[snip]

The second reason the number isn’t quite true is that the companies aren’t keeping their money in cash, or not much of it. [snip] Some of it in commercial paper but the majority in short-term Treasuries (bills and notes rather than bonds). [snip] We could, at this point, suggest that the Treasury actually has a negative amount of cash because the amount it appears to have is less than it owes Apple and Microsoft in those short-term Treasuries.

[snip]

Which brings us to a final point, one more theoretical. Which is that the US government doesn’t have any cash at all. Because it has borrowed hundreds of billions at least in those short-term Treasuries. Which is an amount very much larger than the amount of cash it is recorded as having.

[snip]

That last point meaning that if you’ve got one single dollar bill and no debts then you’ve got more money than the Feds.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apple; bho44; corporateamerica; deficit; internet; spending
We're screwed.
1 posted on 04/13/2014 8:19:56 AM PDT by RightGeek
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To: RightGeek
We could, at this point, suggest that the Treasury actually has a negative amount of cash because the amount it appears to have is less than it owes Apple and Microsoft in those short-term Treasuries.

The government is 17 trillion in debt. I have more money than the government.

2 posted on 04/13/2014 8:22:43 AM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: FatherofFive
As the last line says: That last point meaning that if you’ve got one single dollar bill and no debts then you’ve got more money than the Feds.
3 posted on 04/13/2014 8:25:30 AM PDT by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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To: RightGeek
But the Government has more ammunition than Apple, and with more ammunition it can take all the money it wants.
4 posted on 04/13/2014 8:25:47 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Yo-Yo

“But the Government has more ammunition than Apple, and with more ammunition it can take all the money it wants.”

Is it naive to think the individuals who work for these government agencies might have 2nd thoughts about shooting fellow citizens ?

Any of them with a brain might choose a different target I would think


5 posted on 04/13/2014 8:36:19 AM PDT by jcon40
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To: FatherofFive

The government is 17 trillion in debt.

I am afraid you are more than $100T short of the actual debt.


6 posted on 04/13/2014 8:44:29 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: RightGeek

There is more cash under my living room sofa cushion than the U.S. government.


7 posted on 04/13/2014 8:45:45 AM PDT by Flick Lives ("I can't believe it's not Fascism!")
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To: FatherofFive

But who’s “the government”?

The people.

So if “the government” is $17 trillion in debt, then so are the people - so, every man, woman, and child in the US owes about $50,000.


8 posted on 04/13/2014 8:53:32 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
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To: RightGeek

Government today is in big business, where it is at a disadvantage to hold any cash position. It gives its cash away to purchase votes that not only maintain the “big” in big business, but can grow this business even further. It has gotten so good at this, that it borrows from the future to buy votes today.


9 posted on 04/13/2014 8:55:10 AM PDT by C210N (When people fear government there is tyranny; when government fears people there is liberty)
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To: FatherofFive
The government is 17 trillion in debt. I have more money than the government.

Not to worry. They are going to come and get it in one way or another.

10 posted on 04/13/2014 8:56:48 AM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: mountainlion
I am afraid you are more than $100T short of the actual debt.

I know. Unbelievable what the progressives have done to this great country.

11 posted on 04/13/2014 8:57:38 AM PDT by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: FatherofFive
The government is 17 trillion in debt. I have more money than the government.

Shhhh!

12 posted on 04/13/2014 8:58:11 AM PDT by Starstruck (If my reply offends, you probably don't understand sarcasm or criticism...or do.)
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To: RightGeek

13 posted on 04/13/2014 9:15:47 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: RightGeek
"Business? In this business, you're always one step away from bankruptcy. Funny money, credit, speculation...
"Somewhere in this country there's a little old lady with seventy-nine dollars and twenty-five cents.
And the five cents is a Buffalo nickel...
"If she cashes in her investment, the whole thing'll collapse -- General Motors, the Pentagon, the DuPont Sisters and the whole shebang...
"We're all runnin' downhill. Gotta keep runnin' faster all the time or it'll all fall down..."

— the late character actor, Dub Taylor, as disgruntled gas station operator in 1974 film, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

14 posted on 04/13/2014 9:24:11 AM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY - 86-44)
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To: RightGeek

Buy the U.S. government and fire all of them for incompetence.


15 posted on 04/13/2014 9:49:22 AM PDT by MasterGunner01
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To: RightGeek

The treasury should not have more in cash than their expenses.

If they do, they should either pay down their debt or reduce their tax rates.


16 posted on 04/13/2014 9:51:14 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (If you want to keep your dignity, you can keep it. Period........ Just kidding, you can't keep it.)
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To: FatherofFive

If your “money” is in gold and silver you do. Otherwise you have fiat promissory notes backed by air. Granted everyone still uses them and takes them, for now.


17 posted on 04/13/2014 10:49:18 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: RightGeek

Apple needs to bring production back to America.


18 posted on 04/13/2014 10:51:53 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html#2013)
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To: RightGeek

Well of course they do. Apple knows who has paid them and who hasn’t!


19 posted on 04/13/2014 2:24:16 PM PDT by jch10 (The Democrat mascot shouldnÂ’t be the donkey; it should be the tick.)
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