In the 1990s, when Apple was suffering through nearly a decade of stagnant revenues and several quarters of losses, no elected officials were scrambling to “save’’ this national treasure of innovation. There were no special earmarks to bring iMacs to market, or crash programs to miniaturize the iPod Nano. Yet today, the company employs over 60,000 people worldwide, with about two-thirds working in the United States.
Most people would agree that these are good jobs - even great ones. But Apple critics, and there are many, are quick to sniff that they’re not manufacturing jobs. The company’s contractors, mostly in China, are responsible for assembling the iconic products. Instead, the American work force oversees the design of hardware and software; they manage the growing Internet-based platforms for music, books, movies, and applications; and they distribute and sell through Apple’s retail chain.
As with other high-tech firms, including Google, Microsoft, and even old-line names like IBM, only a fraction of Apple’s employees qualify as “manufacturing.’’ But their pay and benefits are among the best in the world. These firms remain global leaders in their fields, and they are growing.
Naturally, President Obama has a plan: punish them.
“If you’re a business that wants to outsource jobs,’’ Obama threatened in his State of the Union address, “you shouldn’t get a tax deduction.’’ That policy - increasing taxes for companies that scale back at home or open new facilities overseas - would have wiped Apple out years ago as it struggled to remain competitive. And it would punish many other resurgent American high-tech firms like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Xerox.
