There are opportunity costs and risks associated with holding onto excess cash. Continuing to hold that cash sort of implies at least some difficulties in makin

There are opportunity costs and risks associated with holding onto excess cash. Continuing to hold that cash sort of implies at least some difficulties in making a decision on what to do with it. Doing nothing, or just sticking the cash in short-term securities, has a cost of its own. That's not the same as thinking the company has no ideas, of course. But for companies like Apple and Google, those ideas often aren't necessarily capital intensive ones--at least relative to the size of their cash holdings--and when they're successful, can wind up exacerbating the problem by generating...more cash.