Allan Sloan
Fortune
The Week
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P&G’s transactions are “perfectly legal,” but they’re “so convoluted that you have to be a tax techie (or a masochist) to make your way through them.” By my estimates, the Cincinnati-based consumer giant has made $6 billion by unloading its Jif, Crisco, Folgers, and Pringles brands, all tax-free. Straight sales “would have triggered a $2 billion federal tax bill and a hefty state tax bill.”
It shows how desperately we need corporate tax reform when “even a company like P&G practices the dark tax-avoiding arts.” Lower tax rates alone won’t solve the problem. “Corporate tax avoidance is as American as apple pie,” and companies will pursue it until “all available loopholes get nailed shut.”
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The pros and cons of buying a new-build housethe explainer Repairs and maintenance will be minimal on a brand new build — but moving into an existing home can be easier upfront
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Mexico’s forced disappearancesUnder the Radar 130,000 people missing as 20-year war on drugs leaves ‘the country’s landscape ever more blood-soaked’
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The Week contest: Racoon’s regretsPuzzles and Quizzes
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Issue of the week: Jamie Dimon’s big raisefeature After a year of lawsuits, fines, and government probes, JPMorgan is giving CEO Jamie Dimon a massive raise.
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Issue of the week: Twitter’s public stock offering
feature As Twitter prepares for its initial public offering, “its books aren’t pretty.”
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Issue of the week: JPMorgan in Washington’s crosshairs
feature The biggest U.S. bank is discussing an $11 billion payment to settle government investigations related to the mortgage crisis.
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Breaking cable TV’s power
feature Why is cable television’s monopoly so stubborn?
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Why I’ll never go to Davos
feature As long as leaders are unwilling to “give up control of their narratives,” collaboration on major global problems will remain impossible, said Mohamed El-Erian at Reuters.com.
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Wal-Mart’s art of shame
feature Several paintings in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art strike me as “especially pointed commentaries” on the retailer’s baleful effect on our country and its economy, said Jeffrey Goldberg at Bloomberg.com.