3 ms·

But it does matter where it goes. What if it all goes into real estate (again), for example? Then you get another housing bubble and even more unaffordable ho

But it does matter where it goes. What if it all goes into real estate (again), for example? Then you get another housing bubble and even more unaffordable housing for middle Americans. You're also assuming that cash being spent on things like luxury goods is flowing into the US economy as opposed to the global economy. Globalization has changed that dynamic significantly.

bmmayer1 9y ago
The housing bubble wasn't because of rich people buying real estate. It was because of middle class and poor people over-leveraging.
- mdorazio 9y ago
  Sorry, I don't see how that rebuts my statement. Also, that's a gross oversimplification of what actually happened. My point is that if the windfall from dollar repatriation goes into real estate and we get another bubble, how does that help middle Americans? We can't assume that everyone will go out and put their repatriated dollars into economically productive places. Also, I've said this before and no one has given me a good answer yet. Corporations already have record amounts of cash on hand [1], but they're largely not doing anything with it. What reason do we have to believe that getting cash back on shore would change this behavior at all? After all, taxes are on profits - companies could effectively repatriate their money tax free today by spending it on hiring more people, building factories, etc. [1] https://www.spglobal.com/our-insights/US-Corporate-Cash-Reaches-19-Trillion-But-Rising-Debt-and-Tax-Reform-Pose-Risk.html https://www.spglobal.com/our-insights/US-Corporate-Cash-Reac...
- christocracy 9y ago
  “Mounting evidence suggests that the notion that the 2007 crash happened because people with shoddy credit borrowed to buy houses they couldn’t afford is just plain wrong. The latest comes in a new NBER working paper arguing that it was wealthy or middle-class house-flipping speculators who blew up the bubble” https://qz.com/1064061/house-flippers-triggered-the-us-housing-market-crash-not-poor-subprime-borrowers-a-new-study-shows/ https://qz.com/1064061/house-flippers-triggered-the-us-housi...

bmmayer1 9y ago

The housing bubble wasn't because of rich people buying real estate. It was because of middle class and poor people over-leveraging.

mdorazio 9y ago
Sorry, I don't see how that rebuts my statement. Also, that's a gross oversimplification of what actually happened. My point is that if the windfall from dollar repatriation goes into real estate and we get another bubble, how does that help middle Americans? We can't assume that everyone will go out and put their repatriated dollars into economically productive places. Also, I've said this before and no one has given me a good answer yet. Corporations already have record amounts of cash on hand [1], but they're largely not doing anything with it. What reason do we have to believe that getting cash back on shore would change this behavior at all? After all, taxes are on profits - companies could effectively repatriate their money tax free today by spending it on hiring more people, building factories, etc. [1] https://www.spglobal.com/our-insights/US-Corporate-Cash-Reaches-19-Trillion-But-Rising-Debt-and-Tax-Reform-Pose-Risk.html https://www.spglobal.com/our-insights/US-Corporate-Cash-Reac...
christocracy 9y ago
“Mounting evidence suggests that the notion that the 2007 crash happened because people with shoddy credit borrowed to buy houses they couldn’t afford is just plain wrong. The latest comes in a new NBER working paper arguing that it was wealthy or middle-class house-flipping speculators who blew up the bubble” https://qz.com/1064061/house-flippers-triggered-the-us-housing-market-crash-not-poor-subprime-borrowers-a-new-study-shows/ https://qz.com/1064061/house-flippers-triggered-the-us-housi...