This is all I have time for now.
Link here.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Use 'Em If You Got 'Em: Channel Earnings Through Low Tax Havens
One of the best at doing that: Microsoft. Link here.
Microsoft is straightforward about the core reason for its lower tax bill: It is increasingly channeling earnings from sales to customers throughout the world through the low-tax havens of Ireland, Puerto Rico and Singapore.Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Meanwhile tax those corporate jets. Tax "Big Oil." Tax those making over $250,000.
Microsoft's pre-tax profits booked overseas nearly tripled over the past six years, to $19.2 billion in the fiscal year that just ended, from $6.8 billion in the year ended in June 2006, according to company filings. By contrast, its U.S. earnings have dropped, to $8.9 billion from $11.4 billion in the same period. Foreign earnings now make up 68 percent of overall income.
The change is fueling its shrinking tax bills. According to its 2010 annual report, by keeping a good chunk of foreign earnings away from the U.S., Microsoft has accumulated $29.5 billion overseas -- and that is before the impact of its last financial year.
Confirmed: Second of Two Keynote Speakers Will Be Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources -- Previously Announced Governor Jack Dalrymple the Other Keynote Speaker -- 2nd Annual Bakken IFD Summit, Denver, Colorado, October 24 - 26, 2011
Updates
Just a reminder: time to register for the 2nd Annual Bakken Infrastructure Finance and Development Summit, October 24 -26, in Denver, Colorado.
It has been confirmed that the second of two keynote speakers will be Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources. The other keynote speaker, Governor Jack Dalrymple, was previously announced.
Note the promotion code below to get a 15% discount in registration fees: 116650.
Original Announcement
This blog has focused on the oil companies operating in the Bakken. A shortfall of the blog has been the lack of much information on companies working to provide the necessary infrastructure to support those oil companies.
In fact, someone just asked who was buying, hauling, and selling water in the Bakken, a question I could not answer. But those answers and more should be forthcoming at the 2nd Annual Bakken Infrastructure Finance and Development Summit, October 24 - 26, in Denver, Colorado.
You can register now at this site: http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/528.
One of the Williston coordinators of this conference, Amy Olson, tells me that you can get a 15% discount in registration fees if you register using this promotion code: 116650.
The pre-workshop agenda is on the first day of the event, October 24.
The actual summit will be held the following two days, October 25 - 26.
At the linked site, you can download the agenda.
Some highlights:
My hunch is that the most valuable portion of this conference will be the networking. If one is serious about investment opportunities in the Bakken, this looks like a very good conference.
For me, the most exciting thing about the conference is its location: Denver, Colorado. It speaks volumes that the venue would be held where a number of oil companies that operate in the Bakken are located, but also where the financial institutions are that would provide the financing.
This has to be very, very exciting for those who have lived and worked the oil industry in the Williston Basin for the past 60 years (oil discovered in 1951).
This update and future updates will be linked at the sidebar at the right at the very top for easy access. If there are updates, I will let folks know. Again, I am being told that there is a 15% discount in on-line registration if you use the promo code noted above.
If anyone has any trouble registering, let me know, so I can let Amy know. Or phone the folks directly at (818) 888-4444.
In fact, someone just asked who was buying, hauling, and selling water in the Bakken, a question I could not answer. But those answers and more should be forthcoming at the 2nd Annual Bakken Infrastructure Finance and Development Summit, October 24 - 26, in Denver, Colorado.
You can register now at this site: http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/528.
One of the Williston coordinators of this conference, Amy Olson, tells me that you can get a 15% discount in registration fees if you register using this promotion code: 116650.
The pre-workshop agenda is on the first day of the event, October 24.
The actual summit will be held the following two days, October 25 - 26.
At the linked site, you can download the agenda.
Some highlights:
- The keynote speaker will be ND Governor Jack Dalrymple
- Current takeaway capacity, Rick Smead, Navigant Consulting
- A panel of experts on pipeline instructure, to include: MDU, TransCanada, Kinder Morgan, Enbridge, others
- A panel of consultants for venture capital investments: Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, Pine Brook Road Partners, MacQuarie Bank, Haddington Ventures, others
- Power (as in electricity, not political) issues, Cole Gustafson, North Dakota State University
- A case study on rail transloading facilities for crude oil by Watco Companies
- Panel discussion on outlook for trucking and oil-railing infrastructure, to include the vice president, chemical, Norfolk Southern Corporation
- A panel discussion on real estate opportunities
My hunch is that the most valuable portion of this conference will be the networking. If one is serious about investment opportunities in the Bakken, this looks like a very good conference.
For me, the most exciting thing about the conference is its location: Denver, Colorado. It speaks volumes that the venue would be held where a number of oil companies that operate in the Bakken are located, but also where the financial institutions are that would provide the financing.
This has to be very, very exciting for those who have lived and worked the oil industry in the Williston Basin for the past 60 years (oil discovered in 1951).
This update and future updates will be linked at the sidebar at the right at the very top for easy access. If there are updates, I will let folks know. Again, I am being told that there is a 15% discount in on-line registration if you use the promo code noted above.
If anyone has any trouble registering, let me know, so I can let Amy know. Or phone the folks directly at (818) 888-4444.
NO POSTS FOR AWHILE -- TRAVELING
Until more stand-alone posts, around the world:
1. Earnings for COP and HES posted at the sidebar at the right, under "Earnings Central."
3. Wow, this guy is lucky he's not in Iran. I think the punishment for this crime in Iran is loss of left hand and 500 floggings. Don't quote me on that.
4. Debt ceiling discussions: Monday night, the President said "we must compromise." Tuesday morning, he said "I will veto anything Boehner sends to me." That is what "we" call a balanced approach" (also a phrase used in the president's speech): you send me something, and I will send it back. That, by the way, was the only thing accomplished on Tuesday as we move closer to "the-everyone-knows-August-2nd-is-a-contrived-date" date.
5. A big "thank you" to Don for sending me reading material -- just now, got it. Downloaded the PDF and will read it on the plane until the computer battery runs out. Seventy-two pages on "Exploration of the Alberta Bakken: A Resource Play Mosaic in the Making?" (If I download it on the iPad, which I will also do, the battery will last twice as long as the flight. (The computer battery, in contrast, will last half the length of the flight. Both Apple products -- that just shows you how powerful the iPad battery is and how efficient they've made the iPad.)
6. A failed city and perhaps the canary in the coal mine: I thought I was misreading the article, so I checked Wikipedia and that's accurate: Detroit has fallen from a population of 1.8 million people in 1950 to 700,000 now. The metropolitan area has grown and the region has grown in population but folks are deserting the city. According to Wiki, "among major American cities during the decade, only New Orleans experienced a greater decrease by percentage."
Lots of stuff on the sidebar at the right to review.
Good luck to all.
1. Earnings for COP and HES posted at the sidebar at the right, under "Earnings Central."
- HES proves one shouldn't be in refining or in Libya. But then, we all knew that, and that's why COP and MRO are splitting upstream from downstream.
3. Wow, this guy is lucky he's not in Iran. I think the punishment for this crime in Iran is loss of left hand and 500 floggings. Don't quote me on that.
4. Debt ceiling discussions: Monday night, the President said "we must compromise." Tuesday morning, he said "I will veto anything Boehner sends to me." That is what "we" call a balanced approach" (also a phrase used in the president's speech): you send me something, and I will send it back. That, by the way, was the only thing accomplished on Tuesday as we move closer to "the-everyone-knows-August-2nd-is-a-contrived-date" date.
5. A big "thank you" to Don for sending me reading material -- just now, got it. Downloaded the PDF and will read it on the plane until the computer battery runs out. Seventy-two pages on "Exploration of the Alberta Bakken: A Resource Play Mosaic in the Making?" (If I download it on the iPad, which I will also do, the battery will last twice as long as the flight. (The computer battery, in contrast, will last half the length of the flight. Both Apple products -- that just shows you how powerful the iPad battery is and how efficient they've made the iPad.)
6. A failed city and perhaps the canary in the coal mine: I thought I was misreading the article, so I checked Wikipedia and that's accurate: Detroit has fallen from a population of 1.8 million people in 1950 to 700,000 now. The metropolitan area has grown and the region has grown in population but folks are deserting the city. According to Wiki, "among major American cities during the decade, only New Orleans experienced a greater decrease by percentage."
Lots of stuff on the sidebar at the right to review.
Good luck to all.
List of North Dakota Post Offices Slated For Closure -- Not a Bakken Story
Link here. The North Dakota list includes Alamo, Arnegard, Epping, and Trenton. It does not include Fargo, Bismarck, or Williston. Or Bowman.
The US Post Office is looking to close 3,700 post offices nationwide. This sounds "bad" on the surface, but the "post office" actually has a pretty clever solution to keep these offices open. I hope it works out. I think it's a very clever idea.
Going through this story one finds a number of interesting data points. This might be the most interesting:
This is the number I would like to see: savings from closing these 3,700 post offices nationwide, and the savings generated by going to five-day delivery service. And not yet, but eventually three-day delivery service. (That wouldn't mean that postal delivery personnel would not have 40-hour work weeks; they would have multiple routes to get them to 40-hour weeks. [Update: closings would result in an annual savings of $200 million. The post office will lose $8,000 million this year. The closures represent a drop in the bucket.]
Like most companies, a huge expense is not the annual salary for all these employees, but the pensions and the health care premiums.
One of the post offices not on the list is the one in Belmont, Massachusetts, just down the street from where I am currently residing. This post office does not provide any outgoing mail: no mailboxes, no general delivery, no package pick-up, nothing. It is used only for outgoing mail. This function could easily be picked up by the UPS store just a few blocks away. This particular Belmont office has one or two employees serving the public; I do not know if there are additional employees in the back, or if there are services provided I am not aware of that necessitates that this office stay open.
The US Post Office is looking to close 3,700 post offices nationwide. This sounds "bad" on the surface, but the "post office" actually has a pretty clever solution to keep these offices open. I hope it works out. I think it's a very clever idea.
Going through this story one finds a number of interesting data points. This might be the most interesting:
In California, one of the largest states in both geographical area and population, "more than 100" sites are on the list.The post office in Parshall has recently closed.
North Dakota, one of the smallest states in population, there are 76 sites on the list (if I counted correctly). There are 80 offices on the South Dakota list.
This is the number I would like to see: savings from closing these 3,700 post offices nationwide, and the savings generated by going to five-day delivery service. And not yet, but eventually three-day delivery service. (That wouldn't mean that postal delivery personnel would not have 40-hour work weeks; they would have multiple routes to get them to 40-hour weeks. [Update: closings would result in an annual savings of $200 million. The post office will lose $8,000 million this year. The closures represent a drop in the bucket.]
Like most companies, a huge expense is not the annual salary for all these employees, but the pensions and the health care premiums.
One of the post offices not on the list is the one in Belmont, Massachusetts, just down the street from where I am currently residing. This post office does not provide any outgoing mail: no mailboxes, no general delivery, no package pick-up, nothing. It is used only for outgoing mail. This function could easily be picked up by the UPS store just a few blocks away. This particular Belmont office has one or two employees serving the public; I do not know if there are additional employees in the back, or if there are services provided I am not aware of that necessitates that this office stay open.
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