Bernie Sanders Allows Apple Is Not 'Destroying the Fabric of America'

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders loves to talk about the greed of Wall Street and how corporate America is destroying the fabric of our nation.

The editorial board of the Daily News decided to press the Vermont senator on details — namely, whether Apple is among those companies wrecking the United States. The company just observed its 40th anniversary and employs some 76,000 people in the U.S.

“No, Apple is not destroying the fabric of America,” Sanders said in an interview with the New York tabloid. “But I do wish they’d be manufacturing some of their devices here in the United States rather than in China. And I do wish that they would not be trying to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.”

That characterization of the company doesn’t quite get the details right. There’s no question the bulk of its assembly work happens outside the U.S., but Apple has made an effort to bring some manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. The company spent more than $100 million to move Mac Pro manufacturing to Texas.

https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/474935247335743489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

But even that understates the U.S. employment tied to Apple’s ecosystem. The company sources parts, materials and equipment from thousands of companies in 33 states — including Corning, which makes Gorilla Glass for iPads and iPhones. By one estimate, these suppliers employ some 361,000 people.

Nor does it take into account the more than 1.4 million jobs tied to the app economy — the engineers, developers and entrepreneurs who make games and other mobile apps for Apple devices.

As for taxes, this one is a particularly sore subject for Apple, whose chief executive appeared before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to answer questions about the company’s use of Irish subsidiaries to avoid paying billions in U.S. taxes.

“We pay more taxes than anyone else,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told “60 Minutes” interviewer Charlie Rose, and dismissed as “political crap” the notion that Apple is avoiding paying taxes on overseas profits. He called for a modernization of the nation’s tax code, so U.S. companies could bring some of that cash home.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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