The new members have also upset the old with their taste for flat and often low rates of personal income tax and corporate tax, chosen mainly for ease of collection.

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For the OFT, the Big Four's stranglehold, combined with relatively low rates of switching between them by corporate clients, means that fees are probably higher than they ought to be, for services that are perceived to be pretty bog standard.

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These loans are fully guaranteed, mature between 35 years and 40 years, free of personal and corporate guarantees, and have low fixed interest rates of just under 3%.

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France and Germany, with their expensive welfare states, are loth to cut corporate tax rates to the low levels of countries like Ireland, so they want the Irish to raise theirs.

ECONOMIST: Europe

Based on minimal interest rates and the low ratio of employment costs to revenues, corporate earnings at least for a couple of years look growable.

FORBES: White Swans Beat Up On Black Swans

More significant may have been policies aimed at keeping corporate borrowing rates low to slow the growth rate of nonperforming loans, and deposit rates even lower to ensure bank profitability.

WSJ: China's Consumption Conundrum

Two holdovers from the hard times--low interest rates and cash-flush corporate balance sheets--give buyers of castoffs the wherewithal.

FORBES: Breaking Up Is Good to Do

Tracing tax rates over 50 years anyone would conclude that corporate rates currently are on the low side, a bargain compared with the position trendline of 50 percent.

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