ECONOMY – $6 BILLION LOOPHOLES: According to the WSJ, "The US system for taxing overseas profits of American companies is so riddled with loopholes and credits that the government would collect $6 billion more each year if it stopped trying to tax those profits altogether, according to a new estimate by congressional tax experts." The current U.S. system is so complex and allows so many breaks, credits, loopholes and deductions for American companies to exploit that it, in essence, gives American companies "more in tax breaks for foreign operations than it collects in revenues." "The fact that you get this result absolutely proves the system is broken," said economist Gary Hufbauer of the Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank supported in part by corporations. "It's a mess."