Teamsters Union boss James Hoffa thinks Apple and other tech companies relying on overseas factories to make the gadgets Americans love are being unpatriotic. “Everything [Apple does] is in China, or in Asia somewhere…There’s something wrong with that,” Hoffa told a cable news interviewer on the eve of Labor Day.
“I think the president should challenge the patriotism of these American corporations that are sitting on the sidelines saying, why do we have high unemployment but I am not going to hire anybody?” Hoffa said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” His answer is a tax proposal encouraging companies to “start spending some of that money here in America and put Americans back to work.”
Apple, which has $76 billion in cash – some stashed in overseas accounts, recently joined a group of companies lobbying for tax breaks to help the U.S. economy. The lobbying effort with the patriotic name of “WIN America Campaign,” is pushing for a 5 percent “tax holiday.” Apple and other tech giants such as Google, Cisco and Oracle, argue their “common sense solution” would add up to $1 trillion to the nation’s economy and “provide businesses with the security and certainty they need to help Americans get back to work.”
The proposal has gained support from 15 Republicans and eight Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Barack Obama, who received $1.8 million in 2008 donations from the tech lobbyists, is opposed to the idea. However, Obama is expected Thursday night to unveil a $300 billion jobs program that includes numerous tax cuts.
Whatever the outcome of Thursday speech or its lobbying effort, Apple is unlikely to end its use of overseas suppliers or its presence in places such as China. During the last financial quarter, 62 percent of Apple’s profits came from international sales, a trend that is not expected to reverse.
[via 9to5Mac]
