obama and the us multinationals here in ireland

J

johnwilliams

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how will this double tax thing that obama is going to bring in on us multi nationals affect those companies here in ireland . will they go back to the states . i think obama takes office late january ( am i correct in this) if he started sending the bill through congress straight away , how long after that date would it take him to pass that legislation into law.
 
Surely if he tries to implement this, then all the big Eurozone multinationals will do the same and demand they all come back home?
 
It would make sense if he did this. There would be huge pain for Ireland in the short term, but with effective (different) leadership, Ireland should be able to create its own enterprise.
At the moment Ireland is like a leach.
 
leghorn said:
It would make sense if he did this. There would be huge pain for Ireland in the short term, but with effective (different) leadership, Ireland should be able to create its own enterprise.
At the moment Ireland is like a leach.
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It is very important that the creation of new enterprise is promoted but maintaining the art of being a 'leach' is also critical to our success. More and more companies work in a global market with regional bases, Ireland needs to target this market. Whether is is the past of being the European base for US multinational or the future of becoming the Western European base for growth countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, our English speaking highly educated workforce have a lot to offer.
 
diarmuidc said:
I think this issue is being hyped way out of proportion. Lots of things are said in an election cycle (witness our own); most never come to pass.
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This was one of his main economic points and i feel public tide in Ireland might change when they see when his policies are re American business in Ireland and where theit taxes go.
 
ontour said:
our English speaking highly educated workforce have a lot to offer.
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thats true..but what will kill overseas investment in the end will be our high cost base..espically with more and more low wage countries vieing for business.
 
I think this issue is being hyped way out of proportion. Lots of things are said in an election cycle (witness our own); most never come to pass

true but they are not irish politicians
 
As long as we keep swollowing that line of BS we will continue to be in trouble.
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Purple,
I can see from your spelling that you many have been unlucky with education :-;

There is still plenty to do to improve our education system but even at the current state, I believe that it is one of our strengths.
 
ontour said:
Purple,
I can see from your spelling that you many have been unlucky with education :-;

There is still plenty to do to improve our education system but even at the current state, I believe that it is one of our strengths.
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Ah yes, you are right; a typo invalidates the point I am making.:rolleyes:

We are nowhere near the standard we need to be at second or third level to compete with the rest of Northern Europe. The Germans, Dutch, Swiss, Austrians and French produce better scientists and engineers. They also all speak at least two languages. We are not at the races.
 
Can you please point me to the research that we "are nowhere near the standard we need to be at second or third level to compete with the rest of Northern Europe"

Scientists and Engineers are a very narrow perspective of an education system. We have lots of scope for improvement in these areas but there are lots of third level courses in science and engineering which are undersubscribed. I do not believe that this is because of the quality of the course, it is the perceived relative benefit that doing the course will bring the student in years to come.

There are hundreds of people qualifying as solicitors these days, something that would have been perceived as an education that was only available to the elite in the past. This is an example of may avenues of higher education that have become increasingly accessible.
 
ontour said:
Can you please point me to the research that we "are nowhere near the standard we need to be at second or third level to compete with the rest of Northern Europe"

Scientists and Engineers are a very narrow perspective of an education system. We have lots of scope for improvement in these areas but there are lots of third level courses in science and engineering which are undersubscribed. I do not believe that this is because of the quality of the course, it is the perceived relative benefit that doing the course will bring the student in years to come.

There are hundreds of people qualifying as solicitors these days, something that would have been perceived as an education that was only available to the elite in the past. This is an example of may avenues of higher education that have become increasingly accessible.
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In the context of US multinationals, and foreign direct investment in general, it is scientists and engineers that matter. Solicitors don't create much export wealth. From a purely economic perspective we have far too many solicitors and arts graduates and not enough technically skilled people.

My comments are based on the Lilliputian level of home-grown high-tech engineering or science companies in this country in comparison to those I have listed and my experience over the last 10 years travelling to those countries and visiting their start-up’s, mid level and large companies and meeting their engineers and technologists. With a few notable exceptions we are not at the races. When we accept that and stop patting ourselves on the back we might start to address the problem.
 
In the context of US multinationals, and foreign direct investment in general, it is scientists and engineers that matter.
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What happened to software, financial services an telecommunications? For many US multinationals we are the most 'near-shore' location for shared service and sales centres for EMEA. Even time zone is a benefit we have. These do not have a heavy reliance on scientists or engineers.
 
ontour said:
What happened to software, financial services an telecommunications? For many US multinationals we are the most 'near-shore' location for shared service and sales centres for EMEA. Even time zone is a benefit we have. These do not have a heavy reliance on scientists or engineers.
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So we need software engineers, telecoms engineers and a low taxation system. Well we have the tax system but others are copying and beating it.
When Dell finally pull out of the country (with their call centre) it will finally finish off the myth that we are anything special.
 
If you look at the major US software companies operating in Ireland, I would speculate, from experience, that approximately 10-15% at most are engineers. The majority of employees are in functions that have no requirement for a science or engineering qualification.

IMHO, these companies did not come here for our engineers or scientists and they will not leave because of a shortage of engineers or scientists. If tax, regulatory and social environments are right, they will bring in the required skills.
 
ontour said:
If you look at the major US software companies operating in Ireland, I would speculate, from experience, that approximately 10-15% at most are engineers. The majority of employees are in functions that have no requirement for a science or engineering qualification.

IMHO, these companies did not come here for our engineers or scientists and they will not leave because of a shortage of engineers or scientists. If tax, regulatory and social environments are right, they will bring in the required skills.
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Outside of financial services what US companies do not have a science and engineering function at the core of their business? Even if only 10-15% are software engineers they are still at the core of the business. The idea that we can remain a tax parasite for ever is not a runner.
The only thing that matters is the bottom line; our costs are just too high for the technical return we offer.
 
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