Costco announced, Nov. 28, that it would pay a special $7 dividend that month, meaning it’s shareholders get an extra $3 billion this Christmas season.
This special extra money didn’t come from earnings but from taking out a loan. Yes, they borrowed the money for this corporate gift giving.
Why would they do that? Well, the current dividend tax is 15 percent, but next year it jumps to 43.4 percent. The expiration of Bush-era tax cuts adds 26.4 points with the rest coming from the ObamaCare surcharge.
But here is the real interesting question — why isn’t Costco willing to take the hit? Why are they incurring $3 billion in debt to avoid it? Costco co-founder and director Jim Sinegal supports the deal, yet he made a prime-time speech at the Democrat Convention praising Obama and his policies.
Is he stupid? Of course not. He’s getting tens of millions of dollars from a special deal and is going to spend the rest of his natural days not only as a fat-cat 1 percenter but as political insider with all the perks it entails.
It’s the people who believed him who are stupid.
Which gets us to a related matter. Hollywood 1-percenter Ashley Judd is seriously considering a 2014 run for the Kentucky Senate seat now held by Republican Mitch McConnell. I think she has a chance.
Which gets us to our movie tip of the day: Mike Judge’s classic Idiocracy from 2006. It’s almost like it’s a prophecy.
For the record, we have joined the recently opened the Costco in Concordville. It’s a fun place with good prices and nice people. Don’t take your anger at the 1-percenter greed of the corrupt fat-pig Democrat owners out on the people who work there, or on yourselves.
Welcome to Costco. I love you.