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Comment by valuearb | Hacker News Reader

So if repatriated, the money disappears? It’s not reinvested in Apple or other companies, put in the bank to be loaned out to other businesses, nor spent on goods and services?

Cause all three of those things create jobs.

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I think OP's point is that its not "guaranteed" to do any of the things you listed. If the FED raises rates, the companies may want to hold it, as an example. Or if the best business application is to do a buyback or dividend, you're bypassing the jobs part.

We're also talking two buckets of money. The money coming back in to the US, and the taxes the govt collects. I think this one-time tax money in this case is already spent with these tax cuts?

both buybacks and dividends create jobs. in fact without buybacks and dividends no one would ever start a business and no jobs whatever be created, Other than sole proprietors.

Or worker co-ops.

Problem with worker co-ops is access to capital. In a world where dividends and buybacks were banned, where would they get capital? Not from investors, because few sole proprietors would be wealthy enough to invest. Not from banks, because they would be hugely capital starved without investors to fund them.

I'd like to imagine Ford Motor company could have been a worker co-op, but truth is it couldn't until later in life. Henry Ford raised $28,000 to start it in 1902, nominally that's around $1M today, but it's actually far more than that. Average income was around $450 a year, so he raised about 60 times the average worker's annual salary. Without wealthy investors, there was no shot at starting Ford. Once it was churning out Model Ts by the millions the workers co-op could have succeeded, but they could never get there.

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