Idle cash piles up

According to this Reuters article, IRS data suggests that, globally, U.S. nonfinancial companies hold at least three times more cash and other liquid assets than the Federal Reserve reports, idle money that could be creating jobs, funding dividends or even paying a stiff federal penalty tax for hoarding corporate cash.

Although the data points are from March, the point no less is that companies are still hoarding cash for various reasons which could include but not limited to

• Tax avoidance
• Lack of demand
• Fiscal policy uncertainty

The list could go on but I hope that you get the point.  Full article here

• The Fed's latest Flow of Funds report showed that U.S. nonfinancial companies held $1.7 trillion in liquid assets at the end of March. But newly released IRS figures show that in 2009 these companies held $4.8 trillion in liquid assets, which equals $5.1 trillion in today's dollars, triple the Fed figure.