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June 13, 2004
Good for Amway
By QBlog in
According to Molly Ivins, Congress gave a nice $283 million tax break to one corporation in 1997. The name of that corporation was Amway. Way to go Amway. I wish there were more details in the column and maybe a few comparisons with the tax breaks given to other corporations. I'm pretty clueless about corporate tax breaks so maybe $283 million isn't so much when looking at the big picture? Anyway, what I really found interesting in the column was two paragraphs about Amway folks in Congress:
Of course, it helps that Amway has its own caucus in Congress. Yes, the Amway caucus. Five Republican House members are also Amway distributors: Reps. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, Jon Christensen of Nebraska, Dick Chrysler of Michigan, Richard Rombo of California and John Ensign of Nevada. Their informal caucus meets several times a year with Amway bigwigs to discuss policy matters affecting the company, including China's trade status.I know about Sue Myrick but I didn't know about the other folks. That's cool that Amway has a bit of influence Congress but I wonder if it ever represents a conflict of interest when drafting new policies?House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, a onetime Amway salesman, also remains close to the company. `Mother Jones' magazine, which has followed Amway's shenanigans closely, reported last fall that Myrick owes her election to the company -- almost half of her total campaign funds came from Amway people.
Nah, that never happens on Capitol Hill.
Comments
The column says "whip" not "leader." DeLay was the Whip in '97... for the record.
"I thought the name of this website was QUIXTAR Blog. But there I go, again, being observant."
Ummm, Dwighty, Quixtar IS Amway.
Step 1: "Alticor, Inc." is the EXACT SAME LEGAL ENTITY as "Amway Corporation." In fact, it's the EXACT SAME LEGAL ENTITY as "Ja-Ri Corp." I'll send Q the data from the Michigan Sect. of State if you want to see it. Alticor, Inc. has an original filing date in 1949.
Step 2: "Amway USA, Inc." was Amway Corporation's wholly owned subsidiary for U.S. business operations. Unlike the rest of the companies under the Amway umbrella, it was a Virginia Corporation (and still is, but has legally changed its name).
Step 3: "Quixtar, Inc." was formed as a Michigan Corporation in 1999 but merged into Amway USA, Inc. (the Virginia corporation) in 2000. The name of the new "merged" corporation was changed to "Quixtar, Inc." It is wholly owned by Alticor, Inc. f/k/a Amway Corporation f/k/a Ja-Ri Corp. These two legal entities (the Michigan corporation and the Virginia corporation) existed for years before "Quixtar" became the nom du jour for the pyramid scheme.
Conclusion: Quixtar, Inc. is simple a rename of Amway USA, Inc. - the wholly owed subsidiary of Amway Corporation that managed U.S. sales. However, they are the same legal entity. "Quixtar, Inc." is a Virginia Corporation that traces its existence back to before 1999.
I have the documents showing all of these transactions.
Cliff's Notes version:
"Amway Corporation" (a Michigan corporation) legally changed its name to "Alticor, Inc." but it's the same legal entity.
"Amway USA, Inc." (a Virginia corporation)legally changed its name to "Quixtar, Inc." but it's the same legal entity.
Both before AND after the name changes, the Virginia corporation was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Michigan corporation responsible for the MLM operations in the States.
This is nothing new. There are a great many corporation piglets feeding on the teats of the federal government and they are championed by Democrats and Republicans alike (As Molly pointed out in the article). I also doubt that, just because 5 members of congress happened to by Amway distributors in the past, it has any extra influence on how they vote. They will reward whoever lines their pockets the most, as they always have.
As for $283 million being big or small, I think it is pretty big for a company of Amway's (at that time) size. Is it big for Microsoft? Not really. They could earn that much in interest in one quarter from their cash & equivalents. It's all relative.
For a largescale corporation, 283 million isn't necessarily "nothing." I mean, a million is a million and that's a lot of money no matter which way you slice it. But the Feds give all corporations tax breaks all the time.
I find it humorous how she goes out of her way to make a note that Tom DeLay WAS an Amway distributor and IS the House Majority leader, implying that (and you can deny this if you want to, but you'd only be denying it) it'sa dirty stinking Republican passing the buck under the table to a dirty stinking scam company. What she fails to mention are two fold: Tom DeLay wasn't the House Majority Leader in 1997 and five members of congress is hardly anything to brag about.
And for the record, the House Majority Leader in 1997 was Dick Armey. I don't think he was ever involved in Amway, but I could be wrong. I often always am.
Al Gore owns a buttload of stock in Apple and his wife lobbies for an airline company. As a matter of fact, because of her lobbying, we poured billions into that dumpster on stuff we didn't even need. But I suppose it was good for the economy and, hey, the airline wasn't a pyramid scam.
If I'm not mistaken, didn't Tom Daschle try to shuffle billions of tax dollars into a farm bill to line his own pockets?
And we certainly can't forget Hillary and the Whitewater Castle Grande land deal.
Man, I can go on and on about the Left's side of the plate, but then again, we're not talking about Them are we? We're talking about Amway and the evil Republicans.
Funny, that, because I thought the name of this website was QUIXTAR Blog. But there I go, again, being observant.
Posted by: Dwighty | June 13, 2004 5:15 PM