I am going to disagree with some of SF friends - I think the protests against...

I am going to disagree with some of SF friends - I think the protests against the private buses of Google are valid. I will go a step further and I think there should be more protests.

Why?

The mind blowing tax evasion via the exotic offshore techniques. Apple goes so far as to book the majority of its profit in Nevada to escape billions of California taxes alone.

With the record levels of income and wealth inequality we have today our country is rapidly splintering into a small 1st world country and a large 3rd world country. Now there are many villains and many techniques behind this greed and evil, and I would easily throw Koch and Murdoch under the bus before Apple and Google. So why go after the tech giants?

They should be the ones to start to lead to a better future. Arguably the tech giants have been good supporters of LGBT rights, and lukewarm supporters of minorities and women. But their products enjoy the very highest gross margins, and they more than any other type of company are the brand images our society follows - they need to be the ones that pay their full taxes.

But how is that going to happen? Congress going to pass any laws? No. It will have to come from a cultural change. Not a legislative change. It will have to be like LGBT rights. Regular employees and higher up execs need to themselves become uncomfortable cheating fellow citizens of the tax revenue to support the country. Shareholders will certainly stamp their feet and complain. A historic CEO vs. shareholder lawsuit will have to go to the supreme court to counter Ford vs. Dodge. But in the end, one of these tech giants must be the first to take the stance that truly *long-term* profits can only be met by a prosperous and growing society.

But we are a long way away from that cultural change.

Again, protesting a few buses and inconveniencing a few tech workers seems like a very, very small negative act to the *tens of billions* of dollars that the tech giants are defrauding both California and the USA at large.

Let's see the rank and file tech workers at the giants campaign for an end to tax evasion. Let's see these workers set aside their short term interest in more valuable options, and work towards simple fairness.

Originally posted on Facebook on December 21, 2013.