But that cash pile is going to hear a big sucking sound in the near future - and it comes from the PlayBook.
As a State Department official was preparing to leave for Baghdad recently, a colleague told him, "When you get there, the big sucking sound you'll hear is D.O.D. moonwalking out of Iraq as fast as it can go.
But seriously, there was a time when states needed huge armies because they were interested in conquering each other to get bigger, suck in more tax revenue, and justify their rulers' thirst for glory.
"The two biggest sucking sounds on profits in our business are on advances and returns," said Robert S. Miller, president and publisher of the new HarperStudio, which was set up last year.
At present, the Big Three suck up labour and human, physical and financial capital that might instead be employed at more productive firms in healthier industries.
More and more people consider themselves to be victimised by foreign investors from rich countries and big companies.Governments suck you in because they want the investment, they want to create jobs and they love the foreign exchange benefit of a $4 billion investment.
With their massive presence in New York and L.A., the big labels suck up the talent around them.
Discovering and RSVPing to parties is a big time suck too, so I dig WillCall's 1-click RSVP to 70 parties.
But the big breweries suck up all the oxygen.
