Since you have edited your example, I would like to comment on it again:
OTAKUjbski said:
# 200% Inflation ( Maintenance * 3.00 ) = net -30.1 gold
# Spread both your Corporations to just one foreign city = net -0.1 gold
# 300% Inflation ( Maintenance * 4.00 ) = net -20.15 gold
# Spread both your Corporations to one more foreign city = net +9.85 gold
You basically say, that the corporation in your example is making a net -30 gold per turn while making +5.25
and +9
at 200% inflation if you have optimal civics and control the perfectly placed headquarters and play at a low difficulty level.
The question should be if that is worth it. Is it worth it to create that corporation in your own city? But then you do something weird. You're adding the wealth accumulated by two foreign placed corporations. Oh, I won't argue with you that a foreign placed corporation is making a net profit without any losses (except the initial investment), but it won't change the decision whether the corporation in your own territory is worth it. The corporation in your own territory should be self sufficient or otherwise you would be better of not creating it at all.
We have seen an almost optimal domestically placed corporation at 200% inflation. Lets look at a less optimal sitiation.
Basic maintenance is still 53.44
and the profit +5.25
and +9
. But now the corporation headquarters were placed in a city without Wall Street because a third competing corporation headquarters was already present in the Wall Street city. Still we have a grocer, bank and market there for +100% gold, so it should be ok. Also, we were forced into environmentalism by the UN. And last, we are playing at deity level. We were smart enough to place a courthouse in our city with corporation. I'm not looking for a worst case scenario, although I'm looking at what happens at high levels in a non-ideal situation. We still control the headquarters, so it should not be too bad to place a corporation in one of our cities.
Upkeep in the city 0.5*1.25* (53.44 gold) = 33.4 gold (effect of courthouse and environmentalism)
With the difficulty level multiplier of 1.5 it becomes 50.1 gold
Then we add inflation of 200% for a total upkeep of 150.3 gold
Now we subtract the income from the headquarters of 20 gold for a total loss of 130.3 gold.
Ok, that makes it 130.3
for +5.25
and +9
. I must say, I'm not really interested in this corporation under such circumstances. If the headquarters could have been constructed in the Wall Street city, it would have been 120.3
for +5.25
and +9
. Still not interested.
If we weren't in control of the headquarters, it would be 150.3
for +5.25
and +9
.
Of course, the food and hammers can sometimes be used to great effect, but the cost is just too high.
My problem with the mechanic is not the fact that the costs are too steep. That just makes them useless at high levels with high inflation levels. The problem that I have is that the inflation mechanic determines if they are profitable. For instance, if inflation had been 0% in this example, then it would have been
30.1
for +5.25
and +9
or 20.1
for +5.25
and +9
if you had build the headquarters in the Wall Street city.
So if you found a corporation in a city while inflation is still relatively low, then the corporation can still be interesting. But after a while when inflation increases, it will become a burden instead of a profit. The profitability of a corporation just shouldn't be linked to the turn in the game (inflation is purely linked to the turn of the game).
I'm actually pretty confident that Firaxis just made a mistake by letting corporation cost be effected by inflation. Just a small programming mistake with great consequences. It will be patched.
And I will be the foil to all your ideas 
