"Lynn Turner" <Turnerl at sec.gov>,
"herman-alexis" <herman-alexis at dol.gov>, <robert.t.parry at sf.frb.org> Subject: Two Excellent New References on Cisco Systems Scheme
Today a leading business publication in the UK, The Register, published an expose by Graham Lea on Cisco Systems and Microsoft's financial practices. If you have been struggling to understand this material, the explanations here are short and clear. Reading them prior to contacting me might be especially helpful. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/13852.html>http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/13852.html
This is the breakthrough article by Kathleen Pender of the San Francisco Chronicle that appeared Monday. It is an excellent piece, far superior to the AP and WSJ stories based upon it. Please do consider a follow-up in that the response should be tremendous. I just got an email from a guy in the Bay Area who said he had an "I pay more tax than Cisco Systems" t-shirt made up this afternoon. Apparently the regional television and radio stations are also picking up the story. Still, however, most people are being kept in the dark. In my hometown the only major daily, the Oregonian, has yet to run a story. <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/09/MN3707.DTL>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/09/MN3707.DTL
With the presidential debate tomorrow, it would be great if one of you who knows Jim Lehrer could submit this as a possible question. Question: With all the talk about higher and lower taxes, has the basic notion of overall tax equity been lost given that Cisco Systems and Microsoft together had more than $40 billion in sales last year and will never pay a dime of federal income tax on these sales? Especially given that the options wage expense deduction taken is for paper stock wages that were never paid out to employees in cash. How can other employers who pay cash wages compete when these wages are deducted against income and they also have to pay federal income tax? Stock option wages are not charged to earnings, even though the tax deduction is taken. Of course a question related to pooling would also be most appreciated, that is, whether or not the candidate will support the SEC and not be influenced by Cisco's lobbying effort to overrule the SEC. This is the link to my original report. <http://www.billparish.com/ciscopyramid.html>http://www.billparish.com/ciscopyramid.html
As always, any helpful criticism is much appreciated.
Best regards, Bill.
bcc: leading business journalists, pension managers
Bill Parish Parish & Company 10260 SW Greenburg Rd., Suite 400 Portland, OR 97223 Tel: 503-643-6999 Fax: 503-221-3161 website: <http://www.billparish.com>www.billparish.com email: <mailto:bill at billparish.com>bill at billparish.com
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