Intellectuals who read Atlas Shrugged used to laugh at how preposterous it was. Nobody was as stupid as the bad guys, we all believed. In the last ten years, though, there have been a few days when it appeared the federal government was using the sci-fi novel as a playbook. In the latest example, it appears Pfizer was attempting to save $1 billion in tax burdens a year by moving its domicile to Ireland. It was about to merge with Allergan, which had already moved its headquarters to Ireland in a previous merger. It was all legal, but contravening the notion that we’re supposed to be a nation of law and not of human whim, the president of all people prevailed upon the Treasury Department of all offices to quickly change guidelines to outlaw businesses from moving headquarters to nations with more favorable tax rates. (You will note the Consitution was light years away from the mind of anybody with say-so.) The presidentially-induced and departmentally-enacted legislation made the merger “unworkable,” and subjected Pfizer to paying Allergan a $400 million fine for breaking the deal. While the procedure of governing by, “Whoops! Ha ha,” is more befitting Caligula than the president of the United States; the result is no worse than the Berlin Wall, erected to hold captive those who find domestic policies oppressive. At least two presidential candidates are applauding the swift throwing-around of weight. An outside observer might expect Pfizer to be outraged, but that could upset a crony applecart somewhere. (See, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4.)
by Leslee Kulba
Wild West blogger