We can try to blame the President, but that isn't going to work. Watch to see how many of these jobs are relocated overseas. If there is one thing that President Obama has been trying to do, it is keep US jobs in the US for US workers.
Because of the new medical devices tax built into ObamaCare or else simply the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world, companies are fleeing the U.S., typically by merging with companies overseas and then moving their headquarters there. So please tell me what Obama is doing to stop this flood? Has he proposed lowering the corporate tax rate? Has he considered repealing the medical device tax? No.
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Updated, 7:08 p.m. | At first it was a trickle. A few relatively unknown pharmaceutical companies acquired international competitors, and moved their headquarters abroad.
Then the pace picked up. Bigger health care companies, including Pfizer and Medtronic, also sought to relocate overseas, claiming that doing so would lower their tax rate and allow them to access trapped cash. Competitors felt pressure to match those financial advantages and began looking for deals of their own.
Now it is a flood. On Friday, AbbVie, a huge drug maker from Chicago, became the latest American multinational to attempt a so-called inversion, offering $46 billion for Shire, a drug maker with an Irish headquarters and a British stock listing.
While its initial bid was rejected, people briefed on AbbVie’s plans say it is determined to pursue Shire, or find another foreign company to buy.
In the health care industry, the dominoes are falling. Companies worth more than $400 billion have tried to leave the United States this year alone, potentially depriving the Treasury Department of billions of dollars in tax revenue. This week alone, the medical device maker Medtronic agreed to buy Covidien in an inversion worth $43 billion, and AbbVie made public its initial offer for Shire.
Other health care companies are considering buying overseas competitors that would allow them to invert. Allergan, currently the target of a hostile takeover attempt by Valeant Pharmaceuticals, was rumored to be considering a bid for Shire. And investment bankers say dozens more companies are plotting similar moves.
Reducing tax bills is rarely the only motivation for such megadeals. Inversions allow companies to access overseas cash more easily and make future acquisitions more attractive by sheltering foreign earnings overseas.
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/06...cts-offer-from-abbvie-worth-about-46-billion/