Yes Don, Gawain is absolutely right. I just don't think it excludes what Kafir and I are saying. Yes, all costs are expenses for companies and are paid for by the consumer in the end. But not all of the income multinationals generate are made in the west. And not all the costs the western consumers make end up as costs for multinationals.
You want to produce your cartoon character clothing line in Southeast Asia? Fair enough. Moved your R&D department to India? Good for you. You've left nothing but a skeleton company located only in name in
America? Fine.
You left your headquarters in Illinois just so you can come crying to the US government about infringments on the intellectual property rights of your products by the Chinese? Well fork up.
Stability and rule of law is a service just like electricity or running water. With good reason, we send companies a bill for those too, even though in the end those bills are paid for by the consumer also. The good reason being that it produces the real costs involved in operating a business for each individual company.
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