at the nationalmemo.com today. you can draw that direct connection, the direct connection with complicated and sometimes not very complicated tax strategies, usually involving ireland, that keep a company s tax billow and my tax bill where it stands now? here is the simple way to think about it. imagine if instead of having your taxes taken out of your check before you got it, you can keep that money and pay the government 30 years from now. if you invested that money at 3%, it would be 2.5 times as large in the future and the taxes would be the same. it is a zero interest loan. you would actually make money off the tax system and that s what apple and other big companies do. the tax system is a profit center and indeed enron called its tax department a profit center. jean, i have to say when i talk about taxes and budgets, jean is the one. we just chat about taxes and budgets all the time. apple s complex tax strategies really draw it is an example of what s wrong with the tax