Apr 21, 2018 6 min read

It’s notable that both Facebook and Starbucks, two mega-giants of what has been called the new economy, have had public comeuppances within days of each other.

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg was called onto the congressional carpet to explain how his company compromised the privacy of millions of people and may have unwittingly distorted the presidential election.

Starbucks’ woes are related to a single incident last week in Philadelphia, when two black men were arrested for not buying coffee, but the shock waves so far have proved massive, including protests, calls for a global boycott, and a public apology from the company’s CEO.

The scale of the missteps might appear to be different, but the potential fallout could be disastrous for two companies that have until now been seen as 21st century behemoths that share global impact and roots in both technology and social change.

Starbucks essentially serves as the cafeteria for the new economy; it would be nowhere, after all, without its WiFi signals.

Starbucks became a revolution not just for charging a premium price for coffee and giving an Italian name to its servers, but for blurring the lines between retail space and civic space. By encouraging people to park their laptops for hours on end for the price of a cup of coffee, it created public spaces throughout the country and the world.

The men arrested last week broke the rules of that space by not buying coffee. But Starbucks broke a more important rule: By demonizing people based on their race, it left democracy out of the public space.

Starbucks has never been shy about touting its values, or its belief in corporate responsibility. It created a corporate social-responsibility department in 1999, has been outspoken on a range of issues, and in 2015 started an ill-fated “race together” movement in response to police shootings of black men.

If a company this “enlightened” can stumble as badly as this single store did when it called the police on two black men, the message is not so much that Starbucks is evil but that racism still has an unshakable and tragic hold in this country.

Finding racism, inadvertent or otherwise, in a self-described socially responsible company, speaks to how deeply ingrained hate, fear, and discrimination are, and to just how little we, as a country, have evolved from our racist, slaveholding past.

Even if the Starbucks incident comes down to one individual store manager making a mistake, we also have to wonder what prompted the kind of law enforcement response that led to at least six cops showing up to arrest the men (who, apparently knowing the drill, remained calm and compliant while being led away in handcuffs).

Police Commissioner Richard Ross needs to better explain how this deployment of force grew way out of proportion to the situation. It’s natural to wonder what kind of police response there would be for a similar complaint from a neighborhood that isn’t Rittenhouse Square.

Starbucks has responded quickly and communicated remorse and a commitment to social justice. What will it take for the rest of us to do the same?

Crunch time nears for state budget process

Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf still have more than two months to meet the June 30 state budget-preparation deadline, and most state residents probably view that as more than enough time for the commonwealth’s legislative and executive branches to complete that vitally important, constitutionally mandated task.

But based on past budget exercises, don’t bet on “smooth sailing,” even with this year’s legislative and gubernatorial elections set to judge Harrisburg’s performance. Thanks to borrowing and an increased reliance on gambling revenue, Harrisburg was able to piece together a purportedly balanced 2017-18 spending package. Residents should be interested in watching how much money might need to be borrowed to balance the 2018-19 budget, as well as whether gambling revenue projections have been realistic or not.

On Jan. 2, the online news and information service Capitolwire reported Pennsylvania revenues, halfway through the 2017-18 fiscal year, were continuing to produce solid performance, although Capitolwire acknowledged concerns remained for the second half of the fiscal year, which ends June 30. The validity of those fears was revealed on April 2 by Capitolwire, when the news service reported that General Fund revenue for March was $274.2 million – 6 percent less than anticipated.

A number like that isn’t “the end of the world” in a budget the size of Pennsylvania’s. The state faced a $2 billion fiscal shortfall a year ago when 2017-18 budget preparation got underway. But the newly reported weak numbers are troubling nonetheless amid the many questions that continue to exist regarding the Keystone State’s financial future.

In February, Wolf unveiled a 2018-19 budget proposal totaling about $33 billion. Wolf, who is seeking re-election, expressed optimism three months ago, saying that he envisioned better days ahead for the state’s finances. However, the governor again won’t be getting his proposed severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling, and his plan for a per-capita levy on municipalities depending on state police protection presumably is dead also.

There’s hope, at least in the Legislature, that increased revenue from new gambling options and additional casinos will be a fiscal savior for the state during the coming year, but don’t place too big of a bet on such an outcome.

The May primaries are just over a month away. That’s when the state’s voters will go to the polls to select party nominees for the Nov. 6 general election.

With Easter having come and gone, it’s time for the Legislature and Wolf to gear up toward resolving their many spending differences.

With the distractions that the election and the campaigning leading up to it create, the urgency for tackling the unfinished work quickly, aggressively and cooperatively is obvious.

Crunch time is here, and the voters shouldn’t look kindly on avoidable roadblocks that prevent a timely budget settlement, wasting money as well.