… instead of boosting the economy (which a few headlines told me was the driving idea):

NEWS:

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has taken a rare swing at corporate Canada, accusing companies of sitting on huge piles of “dead money” that should be invested productively or returned to investors.

Mr. Carney acknowledged that companies are wary about the global economy’s prospects because of debt problems in Europe, but he said Canadian executives are underestimating the resolve of the central bank and other authorities to guard against a financial crisis.

Mr. Carney suggested that with hundreds of billions of dollars in their bank accounts, Canadian firms aren’t doing enough to drive economic growth and create new jobs.

“The level of caution could be viewed as excessive,” he said. Referring to corporate managers, he added, “Their job is to put money to work and if they can’t think of what to do with it, they should give it back to their shareholders.”

It’s unusual for a central banker to criticize the country’s corporations and the executives who make the key decisions. But his comments appear to reflect frustration with what he perceives as a lack of investment in some sectors of the economy.

Statistics Canada numbers show Canadian non-financial corporations with a cash hoard of $526-billion at the end of the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 43 per cent since the recession ended in 2009.

Some firms have staggering amounts of cash on hand. Suncor Energy Inc. has $5.2-billion, Teck Resources Ltd. has $3.6-billion, Inmet Mining Corp. has $2.7-billion, and Bombardier Inc. has $2.5-billion.

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This sounds like proof to me that corporate tax breaks benefit no-one very much at all.