Jordan Hayes wrote:
>
> Carrol asks:
>
> > What happens to money that isn't spent?
>
> The long-term trend (~30 years?) is for non-financial companies to sit
> on cash. Typically this gives a nice cushy job for a Comptroller who
> can come to work every day in a tie pretend he's a banker and buy
> treasuries.
>
> http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/07/corporate-cash-has-been-piling-up-since-1982/
>
> $73.85B GE
> $39.86B Cisco
> $36.56B Microsoft
> $30.06B Google
> $24.29B Apple
> $18.30B Intel
> $13.27B Exxon Mobil
>
> ...
>
> /jordan
>
All of which adds to government debt. Since the corps didn't 'need' it, it's too bad much of it wasn't collected in taxes rather than bought with debt. :-)
Carrol