Apple has been in all sorts of hot water recently. It has had to contend with charges over troubling labor practices at its assembly facilities in China, as well as not doing enough for employment in the United States.

That America's most iconic company - and the world's most valuable, based on its current stock market capitalization - had no manufacturing operations at home seemed to contravene the much-acclaimed rebirth of US manufacturing. Apple finally relented and announced plans to start manufacturing some of its Mac computers at a so-far-not-specified US location.

However, the goodwill from that announcement proved short-lived. Apple, like other US multinationals, was soon accused of being too artful in booking its profits in locations that offer very low rates of taxation. And yet, despite the twists and turns of the Apple saga over the past year or so, the main issue at stake from the point of American people and taxpayers has not even begun to be addressed.