I’m glad to see corporate America (or at least Microsoft) taking this position. Public shaming of Congress and Trump by the big business community seems to be the only thing that gets through to these idiots.
Nice of them to speak out, at last. Because where has the business community been while Republicans have been race-baiting for decades now? Who’s been filling the coffers of those super-Pacs in the desire of obtaining their precious tax cuts?
As responsible as the Republican base is for this disaster of a Presidency and Congress, the business community has been aiding and abetting them every step of the way.
It’s nice that a big corporation like Microsoft is willing to go to the mat for their employees, but the right thing to do is bring those big legal guns to bear for WHOEVER faces this heartless deportation scheme.
Sure, their software engineers are a valuable asset to the company, but they aren’t any less of a person, or deserving of any less of a robust defense against this authoritarian nightmare we are struggling through than any Dreamer who is now living in a hellish limbo of Trump’s making.
Bill and Melinda Gates are what billionaires should be like.
The complete and polar opposites of the so-called billionaire occupying the Oval Trailer.
I included a suggestion with my latest donation to Lambda Legal that they assist Dreamers if the need arises. There are plenty of other legal charities – perhaps it would be wise to form a coalition so the 800,000 at least have counsel at their court appearances.
The sad part is they don’t have much of a case. They handed key documents over to the other side when they signed up for DACA.
Stop press! Microsoft stands up to Confederate General Sessions!
“We say this even though Microsoft, like many other companies, cares greatly about modernizing the tax system and making it fairer and more competitive,” he said. “But we need to put the humanitarian needs of these 800,000 people on the legislative calendar before a tax bill. … In short, urgent DACA legislation is both an economic imperative and a humanitarian necessity.” (MS President and CLO Brad Smith)
While I heartily applaud Microsoft for taking this stance and pledging their financial and legal aid support to these folks, I am a little bothered by the way Mr. Smith (and most corporations, it would seem) phrased the priorities … “gee, even though we are so bigly unfairly taxed nearly out of existence here in the United States and can barely eek out a few extra billion in clear profit here and there, we are, uh, gee, going to do the right thing here and stand up for human rights because … well, because profits.”
I am not a tax lawyer nor do I totally understand our corporate tax system–though I am willing to bet the “system” could surely use some fixing here and there, etc.–but whenever I hear that the U.S.'s corporate taxes are about middlin when compared to all other industrialized nations, I can’t help but get the strong feeling that pure greed is really the basis for MS and others (Apple, GE, and others … looking at you) continued crying out about taxes. And, then, of course, we hear about how these very same corporations either pay pennies or get actual rebates when they’ve experienced record years. I call BS on the taxes part of this statement and I find it rather crass and unseemly he’d try and score points on the issue when discussing what is essentially a human rights issue.
(putting away my soap box)
““For the 39 Dreamers that we know of who are our
employees, our commitment is clear. If Congress fails to act, our
company will exercise its legal rights properly to help protect our
employees,” he said.”
…
I am no fan of Microsoft. Having said that they are being damned decent to their dreamers.
OH no you don’t ! We need your soap box.
LOL. Ah, thank you. 
Trump is just the mouthpiece. The billionaire puppet master of our times is Robert Mercer. I keep wondering when/if he is a person of interest in the Mueller investigation. He not only funds Breitbart, and placed Bannon with trump, his company Cambridge Analytics played a role in throwing the election here and in the UK. This guy is an unabashed fascist and extremely dangerous.
The big guns need to be aimed at the action itself. President Obama promised these kids that they would be safe, that signing up would be a way to legalize their status here if they met certain criteria. Now, because they meet the criteria (basically being a good person) and signed up, they have a target painted on their backs. Reneging on a promise is what Trump does, but it’s not what we as a country should be doing. Trump appears to be incapable of shame, but the rest of us aren’t.
Research shows that DACA increased the wages and labor force participation of DACA-eligible immigrants,[15] reduced the number of unauthorized immigrant households living in poverty,[16] and increased the mental health outcomes for DACA-eligible immigrants and their children.[17][18] (Wikipedia)
The reliance on a promise made by the Federal Government may lead to the undoing of this heartless act.
Welcome your new allies when they appear. When they waver, console them, then cajole them, then castigate them.
Yelling at them when they join us now for stuff they did in the past may feel really good on the internet, but it wins us no new allies.
Corporations are, in most cases, legally obligated to seek to increase share holder’s wealth. As such, taking reasonable measures to attempt to reduce the taxes the pay is in keeping with that goal.
The part you are missing is…so is defending your key employees from leaving the company.
Microsoft isn’t taking a principled stand against ending DACA, as much as they are taking a principled stand to having some of their key employees and contributors to the bottom line, removed by the US Government.
Its ALL about profit motive.
I think Mercer’s a bit off his nut too. Maybe it’s all the money. When you can realize x number of fantasies because you can pay the costs, your tendency to engage in fantasy may, I think, exponentially increase.
Thank you! Thanks for clarifying my sorta emotionally-ranting point: It’s only about the dollar. They did the same (mostly) with the fight for Domestic Partner benefits, fair employment rights and then with marriage equality. I remain grateful they took the actions (the ones who did) and for moving the needle of acceptance and legal fairness, etc., but let’s face it: if it hadn’t affected their bottom lines, 98% wouldn’t have made the effort.
That said, this morning’s BeattyCat rants point to a larger issue with America’s corporate laws: Maximum Profit shouldn’t be their only reason for existence. Sure, it needs to be high on the list, but other issues should be in the mix as well: regional employment affects, environmental affects, tax coffers just to name a few. I am not a tax lawyer nor a corporate specialist, employment specialist, etc., so I may not be arguing my points very well, but I think you can get the gist. The one and only reason they exist, (greed at all cost) is more than just wrong – they get away with murder (metaphor
mostly) and it’s wrong.
Doesn’t he have Mike Pence in his pocket, too? And didn’t he arrange for him to be picked as vee pee?