Tipsheet

Good News from Apple

White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway was eager to share another positive economic news item that has surfaced in light of GOP tax reform.

More details from CNBC.

It anticipates a $38 billion tax bill for repatriated cash, as a result of the new tax bill. This implies it will bring back virtually all of its $250 billion in overseas cash.

Apple also said it would spend over $30 billion in capital expenditures over the next five years. About $10 billion in capital expenditures will be investments in U.S. data centers, the company said.

Apple added it will spend $5 billion as part of an innovation fund, up from the $1 billion previously announced CNBC's "Mad Money." 

Tax reform has ushered in the "apocalypse" (as described by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi) in comforting fashion. Before Apple announced its workforce investment, Fiat Chrysler made a huge investment in one of its plants and served out new bonuses, and a major restaurant company made a $20 million investment in its workforce. That makes over 100 companies that have announced salary increases or other benefits since Republicans passed the tax bill.

Democrats have been downplaying the good news - but not getting away with it. Pelosi was excoriated by House Speaker Paul Ryan for claiming the bonuses being doled out are "crumbs" compared to what corporations are gaining from the legislation. Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is earning Washington Post Pinocchios for defining tax reform as a "make-rich-people-richer tax bill that in the long run is not going to be helpful to the vast majority of people."

Try to get that message through to the thousands of cheering American workers.