Good Morning,

In the latest court case which Apple lost, it seems that Apple had arranged with other publishers of  ebooks to pump up the prices of ebooks to address their concern over the low prices offered on Amazon.com.  It is hard to understand why this would be necessary given Apple's record profits, revenues and cash holdings.

This comes a month after it was revealed that Apple was also pumping up their earnings by skillfully moving their revenue around from country to country to avoid a reasonable level of taxation.  The term "reasonable" when applied to taxes is a difficult concept, when it is considered appropriate in most circles to do what ever is legally acceptable to lower the amount of tax that you are required to pay by sheltering your income.

For me, if the largest consumer products company in the world is achieving a tax rate below 10% of it's income, then this is unreasonable.  The company is employing practices which are uniquely possible due to it's overwhelming size and global reach.  It has lost it's shine as an attractive and reputable company in my view, due to these 2 recent events.

I remain a supporter of free markets and will continue to put freedom as our most cherished strength in North America.  The strength of all of our institutions is increased when companies and leaders and families and individuals follow good practices.  When we stop following good practices, trouble for all is sure to follow.

Be free and be good.

Dad