Now, we're not the biggest fans of Wall Street. As Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani once opined, "America has become a banana republic run by Wall Street criminals."
But in this rare case, we're forced to defend those good ol' boys against the "other" good ol' boys -- the ones in residing in Washington, D.C.
You see, the same people in Capitol Hill who signed laws to create our tax system have once again passed the buck.
This afternoon, U.S. President Barack Obama's "tax inversion" remarks struck us as hypocritical.
Here's what we mean...
What's Wrong with President Obama's Tax Inversion Speech Today
The POTUS' comments today - that such tax loopholes are "insidious" - came just 24 hours after the U.S. Treasury Department announced a series of steps to make corporate inversions less financially appealing.
An inversion, by the way, is a tax maneuver in which a U.S. corporation merges with a business in a low-tax country and then places the headquarters of the newly combined company in the low-tax jurisdiction.
The president said such loopholes make it harder to spend money to keep the economy strong. He also said they hurt the middle class because the lost revenue "has to be made up somewhere."
While corporate inversions substantially reduce the American company's tax bill, there is actually nothing illegal about the move.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said that only legislation can completely stop companies from seeking to leave the country.
Aside from that solution, Republican lawmakers argue that rather than punitive measures, tax reform that lowers tax rates is the solution to the pressures companies are facing to undergo inversions.
But, again, it was Washington that originally put these "punitive measures" in place.
In fact, the U.S. taxes all profits a company makes, no matter where they're earned. Other major economies only tax profits earned domestically.
Washington wrote that rule, too. Talk about a punitive tax burden.
Here's more on why this entire crisis is actually Washington's fault...
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