What is so striking in this long article on Apple retail stores in the New York Times titled Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay is that in the comments section so many writers defended the Apple policies, that perpetuated the myth that somehow because Apple is a giant corporation, it could do what it pleased, as far as employee pay etc. was concerned. It is as if it had no civic duty or obligation to treat it’s fellow citizens and employees first as fellow citizens of the commonwealth and as if their contribution to the success of their products was a meaningful contribution to that success. When did corporations stop being active participants in the civic life of the republic? What happened to the notion and practice of fairness and equity in the face of the moralizing rhetoric of the once triumphant Free Marketeers? If the corporations are granted the rights of citizenship by a reactionary majority of the Supreme Court,Citizens United,when do they start acting like good citizens aware of their obligations to a fully realized notion of good citizenship? When do we as citizens and contributors to the flourishing of Capital stop apologizing for insisting on a living wage for work performed? Is it 1930 all over again?

Publius