[mark212]

I think the assumption of the author is that the folks who run Apple will be seduced by profits generated by the financial arm and start emphasizing that more. Which if anyone knows anyone who works at Apple is ridiculous in the extreme. Alternatively, they take on more balance sheet risk and then the whole company is jeopardized by a financial volatility event, e.g., a big jump in interest rates.

Tim Cook and others do seem to be playing a game of chicken with congress. How long can the US division continue to borrow to find the dividend while those enormous piles of cash remain offshore?

[MaysonL]

How long? At least as long as the pile of cash overseas grows faster than the debt.