Not exactly true, most countries have a "tax on foreign income" requirement.

Here (Canada) we have this: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nd...

The question becomes how much of the "income" was earned in the US vs what is "foreign" and earned by the foreign entity?

Isn't apple known for paying large royalties to its "IP Owner" which is a small two man operation in Ireland? In which case Apple USA never makes any money because Apple Ireland has a large royalty fee.

If you want to "fix" this, tax corporate income the same way you tax individuals income.

The 24 inch HP monitor right in front if me is 16x10 (1920x1200) which seems to disagree with your statement.

Well said.

Look at the history of the US interstate system and see why it was built out..
Back when it suited the US they spent money on infrastructure (creates jobs, ease of troop movement, etc).

Much of this is now crumbling while billions are spent on newer "bombs" which serve little purpose.

What does inflation in the US look like in your situation?

http://www.investopedia.com/te...

You should read up on Canada's "Lobbying laws"
http://www.ocl-cal.gc.ca/eic/s...

They are not the same as the US and are rather strict and they have charged people for doing it.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics...

Thankfully Canada introduced UBB (Usage Based Billing) to prevent stuff like this from taking off here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...

How long until everyone else adopts UBB to thwart the offerings from competitors?
(Yes, i know there are companies offering unlimited access and i have my service with one of them).

Looks like even "Rogers" (early UBB adopter) has started offering "unlimited" plans as an add-on.
Odd, they said they needed to charge for usage as a small number of customers were "hogging" all the bandwidth. Guess they "solved" that and now if you pay $25 you no longer "hog" the available bandwidth?

I was referring to the "four tones" of mandarin.

http://mandarin.about.com/od/p...

"When learning new vocabulary you must practice both the pronunciation of the word and its tone. The wrong tones can change the meaning of your sentences."

They discuss the issue using the classic "ma" example as well.

Funny you mention that as i wasn't commenting on why they were different.

If you look here the Canadian Senate released a report to "explain" the price gap.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/...

The problem is the report fails to point the finger at what is probably the single greatest reason for the price gap (the government).

Buy a pair of kids socks in most US states and you will find they are tax exempt.
Not so here, the government wants its 13% tax on that purchase (Ontario, we have HST)

Buy a winter coat in most states and only pay taxes on the "non-exempt" portion (assuming your coat is over the non-exempt amount).
Buy a winter coat in Canada, and it is 100% taxable, clearly they have no issues taxing "required" things as well.

Heck, they even tax food here (there is a very small list of "exempt" items, but only what they determine is "essential").

Click these links and tell us what you found:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/Search/S...
http://www.bestbuy.ca/Search/S...

As you said, one describes the computer, the other is a job. How are they the same thing?

I just wish consumers would be able to take advantage of "global markets" the same way the large multinationals can.

They are free to export their jobs to the cheapest source, but thanks to copyright laws and "region restrictions" we (the consumer) cant re-import products where they are cheaper.

Real dvd's (not bootlegs) sell for like a dollar in China and $29 here. Why cant i import them and sell them for $10 and make a tidy profit?

First-sale doctrine says i can, lawsuits says you cant.

It probably wont work anyhow.

What you will find out is that the credit cards have coded the country of issue into the number.
I once had XM radio US refuse to accept my Canadian mastercard when i was living in the US (obviously an attempt to enforce the higher prices in Canada policy).
The thing is, since i used a US address how did XM know it was a Canadian card?

Try using one and see if it works out.

All the bilingual people i klnow (Chinese, spanish, french) have told me they can tell someone used "google translate" as the resulting "translation" sucks.

English -> Chinese is especially bad.

If you want to see some funny stuff, look at the translations of the Chinese tattoos some people have.

They went to google translate, picked some characters they liked and then had them tatoo'd. Unfortunately they seldom mean what they think they do.

"Chinese is hard, but you can't tell me that saying hello in English is meaningfully different than saying hello in Chinese."

Yes, i can tell you that is how it is.

No matter what "tone" i use to say "hello" it is still "hello". You may be able to tell that i am angry, etc based on the tone but the meaning is the same.

In Chinese, the tone is critical and if it changes, the meaning of what was said changes (drastically).

Case in point, the Chinese word "ma".
It has 4 meanings depending on the tone.

They are :
Mother
Hemp
Horse
Scold

So if you miss the tone, instead of taking about your mother you could be talking about scolding someone (or one of the other choices).

There are "cultural" reasons for this which you may not grasp.

In China, speaking English implies you are "rich" as you have the time and money to learn it.

The nation is concerned with "social status" and speaking English is a sure way to boost your status.

Kids in Hong Kong speak it because of the British influence while kids in China are just eager to soak it up and hopefully move to "gold mountain".

Try using a non-ex-pat city internal to the nation and see if the same holds true?

The city i frequently visit in China doesn't speak English (unless you go to the "tourist" sections) and the main shopping mall is actually Japanese (Niko niko do)
http://www.chinatravel.com/gui...

My wife is also Chinese, and i would give a "second opinion" on what he they wrote (it is accurate).

~2,000 characters and you are considered illiterate
~10,000 characters and you are considered reasonably well educated.