quote:Roger Green and David Cook seem like your run-of-the-mill high tech execs -- well dressed, well spoken, bright guys. That is, until they tell you their business plan. (I heard it at a party last night here at the Gartner conference, then did a quick interview with them.) And then you have to wonder, are these guys whacked?
Here’s their basic idea:
Take a used cruise ship, plant it in international waters three miles off the coast of El Segundo, near Los Angeles, people it with 600 of the brightest software engineers they can find around the world (both men and women), and run a 24-hour-a-day programming shop, thereby avoiding H-1B visa hassles while still exploiting offshore labor cost arbitrage and completing development projects in half the time they’d take onshore or offshore.
I heard about this on Marketplace yesterday. My first thought was, this sounds like something out of a Neal Stephenson novel. But seeing as this actually has a good chance of happening, it made me wonder what the restrictions are on what you can do in international waters. Presumably they're not allowed to keep a slaveship or run meth labs. I can understand getting around employment laws, since the employees aren't going to be US citizens, but how do they get around environmental regulations? For that matter, why would they need to?
[paranoia]Maybe it's not just a "programming shop" -- maybe they're developing a nuclear arsenal so they can claim sovereignty over the seas... [/paranoia]
(On rereading, noticed that environmental regulations are not mentioned in the article -- must just be in the radio segment.)
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
| IP: Logged |
however, if they cause serious problems, an embargo would have them in deep trouble quickly.
And a soveriegn nation without a military would soon become a dependent colony for whoever's ships take them on first.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
Doesn't a business have to have an "address" for tax purposes? Admittedly, they could say they were out of India or Indiana or wherever in the world -- but they would still be under some laws and regulations from somewhere because they would have to have business papers set up.
posted
Isn't it amazing how hard someone will work to exploit a labor force and get around labor laws?
Take these two fellows out of the country and place them in a Guatemalan sweat shop sewing clothes for Wal-Mart for six months.... seems fair punishment.
Posts: 472 | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
"World's brightest" is probably an exaggeration, but wouldn't you want to go on a cruise of indeterminate length? Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
A gerontologist recently did calculations concerning level of care vs costs, and concluded it would be cheaper -- while providing better living conditions -- to send most assisted-living and nursing home residents on a year-around cruiseship vacation.
He's responded: "What? Take some of the best minds in the world and put them in isolation and see what they come up with? Have the Formics attacked already?"
Doesn't a business have to have an "address" for tax purposes? Admittedly, they could say they were out of India or Indiana or wherever in the world -- but they would still be under some laws and regulations from somewhere because they would have to have business papers set up.
Farmgirl
Exactly! Corporations can only exist within a system of laws under a government. Money isn't created by companies, it's created by governments for companies to use. I suppose they could barter their products...
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
but even if they had a US address they'd still get out of most of the labor requirements that the US imposes for having employees in the U.S. Only a few would live in the country and liase with the boat.
posted
They could, for example, incorporate in Panama and pay no corporate income taxes there at all. Panama allows for off-shore corporations quite readily, and their regulations state that a corporation is taxed only on income done within the country. It's perfectly legal.
Oh, and bank accounts can be done there as well very easily.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I can just picture these wretched souls now, chained to their benches, typing away to the beat of a drum while guards with whips patrol down the aisles, giving slackers a taste of the lash whenever they flag.
I bet these guys got their idea from The Meaning of Life.
quote: Accountancy Shanty
It's fun to charter an accountant And sail the wide accountancy, To find, explore the funds offshore, And skirt the shoals of bankruptcy.
It can be manly in insurance, We'll up your premium semi-annually, It's all tax-deductible, We're fairly incorruptible, We're sailing on the wide accountancy.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Angst]](graemlins/angst.gif)
[/paranoia] 
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
scott!
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
