Now that Bono is done telling the Canadian government what to do with my taxes… he could pay his own damn taxes.
Gobsheit!
It’s an Irish term. Roughly translated gob means pile and sheit means excrement. As in you Pile of Sh*t. In common usage, it is preceded by the adjective fockin’. eg. “What are you doing with my wife, you fockin’ gobsheit?”
Which brings me to Bono, and his band of sullen men, U2:
After Ireland said it would scrap a break that lets musicians and artists avoid paying taxes on royalties, Bono and his fellow U2 band members this year moved their music publishing company to the Netherlands.
This would be the same Bono, of the same U2 that came to Canada to scold the Canadian government for not doing enough. Remember he was going to be Martin’s “biggest pain in the ass” if he didn’t follow through on his commitments.
The Dublin group, which Forbes estimates earned $110 million in 2005, will pay about 5% tax on their royalties, less than half the Irish rate.
The move is explained by U2 guitarist David Evans (The Edge) as a strictly business move:
“Our business is a very complex business,” Evans said Oct. 2 on the Dublin radio station Newstalk, breaking the band’s silence after weeks of public criticism. “Of course we’re trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn’t want to be tax-efficient?”
Exactly! Tax efficient. That’s what I want to be too, except when I try, or when governments try on my behalf, busy body know it alls like Bono show up and spend the money on their own pet projects. They are, to paraphrase Mr. Evans, awfully tax efficient with my tax dollars.
I liked this line, however, from Jill Cassidy, presumably an ordinary citizen of Dublin:
“Among the wealthiest people, I suppose it’s the norm. In U2’s position, it does come across as quite hypocritical.”
Hypocritical indeed. Now, what was that poetic little Irish term?
In the name of love, one more in the name of love.
Maybe this just proves everyone is a capitalist at heart.
Never trust the wealthy and powerful.
Socialist creed: “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine.”
Maybe this just proves everyone is a capitalist at heart.
It is the fundemental tenent if economics – although they phrase it differently – everybody acts rationally, that is in their own best ineterst.
Never trust the wealthy and powerful.
and
Socialist creed: “What’s yours is mine…
Mai I recommend “never trust a wealthy socialist!”