May

1

Cantillon got his start by doing the accounts for the exiled Irish money from Kerry that landed in Daniel Arthur's hands. He got his real boost from becoming the agent in Spain for James Brydges, who got rich as the Paymaster for the British Army during the War of Spanish Succession. In both cases finance was ecumenical; no one complained about the Catholics negotiating bills of exchange for the Anglican sovereign.

Until recently, the same generosity of spirit had governed current financial matters involving Ireland and the continent. But, as the Apple disclosure about tax liabilities noted, the EU is not happy that American companies have used Ireland's intellectual property laws to such extreme advantage. Even more important is the fact that the most recent Irish budget seems to have decided that 12.5% is to be a real and not fictional rate on trading profits, even those made elsewhere.

For some people this could be a nasty scissor between U.S. recapture which takes effect in 2017 (just in time for a possible Republican Secretary of the Treasury to take office) and the Irish desire to clip the virtual coins that have already passed through their jurisdiction.


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