# $250,000/year income?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-000-year-income/591739>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 6, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-000-year-income/591739 "2011-08-06T15:49:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 14

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-000-year-income/591739/261 "2011-08-17T02:57:56Z")

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> [@msmith537](#):
>
> I keep hearing about this big mountain of cash big businesses all seem to have so it must be true. Can you link to the quarterly financial statements for a couple of these businesses?

Corporate America’s cash pile has hit its [highest level in half a century](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703766704576009501161973480.html).

> [@](#):
>
> Rather than pouring their money into building plants or hiring workers, nonfinancial companies in the U.S. were sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of September, up from $1.8 trillion at the end of June, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Cash accounted for 7.4% of the companies’ total assets—the largest share since 1959.
> 
> The cash buildup shows the deep caution many companies feel about investing in expansion while the economic recovery remains painfully slow and high unemployment and battered household finances continue to limit consumers’ ability to spend.

[http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/tax-policy-change-would-bring-cash-piles-abroad-back-home/](http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/tax-policy-change-would-bring-cash-piles-abroad-back-home/)

> [@](#):
>
> [Apple](http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=AAPL&inline=nyt-org) has a cash problem. It’s not just that Apple has too much cash, $76 billion as of June 30. It’s rather that the bulk of that pile, estimated at $41 billion, is held abroad.
> 
> …
> 
> In an analyst report in May, [JPMorgan Chase](http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=JPM&inline=nyt-org) estimated that 519 American multinational corporations had $1.375 trillion outside the United States. The problem is particularly acute among technology companies, which historically tend to hoard cash because of the cyclical nature of their business.
> 
> A recent [Moody’s](http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=MCO&inline=nyt-org) report noted that [Microsoft](http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=MSFT&inline=nyt-org) held $42 billion abroad, or more than 80 percent of its cash. [Cisco Systems](http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=CSCO&inline=nyt-org) has $38.8 billion, or almost 90 percent of its cash. Google — at least before Monday’s deal — had nearly $40 billion in cash, with more than 43 percent of it held abroad

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**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/250-000-year-income/591739/262 "2011-08-17T15:03:28Z")

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> [@Fear\_Itself](#):
>
> Corporate America’s cash pile has hit its [highest level in half a century](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703766704576009501161973480.html).
> 
> [Tax Policy Change Would Bring Cash Piles Abroad Back Home - The New York Times](http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/tax-policy-change-would-bring-cash-piles-abroad-back-home/)

Paradoxically because they don’t think they can MAKE money with it. Kinda like how folks with excellent credit scores couldn’t get a mortgage during the ‘event’.

I can think of several other excuses as well. If I’m making good money selling tampons, and don’t care to expand out of the tampon business, and the economy is bad, I might save money in my war chest for a rainy day.

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