Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'It's Not True That the iPhone is Not Made in the United States'

[AZ63]

It's a fair point to make and we don't have the labor to assemble the iPhone in the US. It is what it is.

We don't? Sources? Or are you just saying? How about labor to assemble the units that are sold here? I believe India and a South American country made those demands on Apple in exchange for the privilege of selling iPhones in their countries. Perhaps those governments have in mind what is best for their population.
[doublepost=1522636998][/doublepost]

Sorry but I honestly don't think American culture supports workers doing meticulous, tedious, repetitive work. We have too much ADD, need for immediate gratification, plenty of work breaks, side time to comment online and tweet. Our culture is miles different than the culture in those manufacturing places (as they get more exposed to how the West lives they might become dissatisfied with their work, too, and then there better be robots to take over or we are screwed). Americans aren't interested in picking fruit, so we hire immigrants who will. Aren't interested in cleaning hotel rooms, so we hire immigrants. Cleaning up puke and urine in nursing homes, so we hire immigrants. It's time we admit what we ARE good at and do THAT. Admit we love cheap clothes, cheap furniture and cheap electronics at Walmart and let the manufacturing of those things happen where it makes sense. America (and most of Europe) is at the point in our evolution where our jobs have to change and some jobs will die off. Yes, we can still make expensive custom things in small batches for the wealthier people. Craft beer and custom furniture. But the vast majority of mass-produced goods will be made in other countries and it's not a sin to embrace that because it allows us to spend the saved money on other things, like service and entertainment industries, that HAVE to happen here because they are spontaneous.

I take exception to your comments that Americans won't do those jobs. As a young man I delivered newspapers. I painted the stands of a raceway. I worked on the grounds crew of a golf course. I worked at a nursery, the plant kind. As a teacher 18 years ago, when my wife and I started a family, I took a job cleaning an office building at night to help make ends meet. I can tell you that I saw plenty of gross things in that building in the bathrooms and elsewhere. If the country makes it too easy not to work then people won't. In a population of roughly 330,000,000 people there are enough people to do the "meticulous, tedious, repetitive work" at least that is the way I see it. I won't sell the American work ethic short. Sure the lazy entitled people grab the headlines but there are plenty of hardworking Americans.

 

[DNichter]

We don't? Sources? Or are you just saying? How about labor to assemble the units that are sold here? I believe India and a South American country made those demands on Apple in exchange for the privilege of selling iPhones in their countries. Perhaps those governments have in mind what is best for their population.
[doublepost=1522636998][/doublepost]
I take exception to your comments that Americans won't do those jobs. As a young man I delivered newspapers. I painted the stands of a raceway. I worked on the grounds crew of a golf course. I worked at a nursery, the plant kind. As a teacher 18 years ago, when my wife and I started a family, I took a job cleaning an office building at night to help make ends meet. I can tell you that I saw plenty of gross things in that building in the bathrooms and elsewhere. If the country makes it too easy not to work then people won't. In a population of roughly 330,000,000 people there are enough people to do the "meticulous, tedious, repetitive work" at least that is the way I see it. I won't sell the American work ethic short. Sure the lazy entitled people grab the headlines but there are plenty of hardworking Americans.

No, we don't. Countries in Asia have hundreds of thousands of workers lining up for factory jobs at dollars per day. We don't. Majority of our labor at that pay rate is looking for handouts.

 

[carpleror]

What does that mean?

It’s jusy a random country I chose. Point being, I care about my economy, not the economy of other nations.

 

[dilbert99]

Who is gouging and who is not paying their fair share of taxes. The last I looked it’s impossible to gouge your customers when buying your product is strictly voluntary. Additionally, no one has accused Apple of tax evasion, which is illegal.

Apple gouges its customers, just look at how much money they have amassed.
As for taxes, I didn't quote evasion, they simply do not pay tax fairly in the countries that the money is earned in, instead using every legal loophole that has yet to be closed to pay tax in the country with the lowest tax rate. This is morally wrong. You might be happy with it and that is your right but many people are not and companies are starting to change.
[doublepost=1522732845][/doublepost]

Well, it's not like Apple is the only one that does this, right ?

Correct, but not a good argument for a company to use, I'll do whats morally wrong because everyone else is doing it...

 

[I7guy]

Apple gouges its customers, just look at how much money they have amassed.
As for taxes, I didn't quote evasion, they simply do not pay tax fairly in the countries that the money is earned in, instead using every legal loophole that has yet to be closed to pay tax in the country with the lowest tax rate. This is morally wrong. You might be happy with it and that is your right but many people are not and companies are starting to change.
[doublepost=1522732845][/doublepost]
Correct, but not a good argument for a company to use, I'll do whats morally wrong because everyone else is doing it...

The last I looked Apple is a rich company because the company produces products people want to buy. Gouge is a judgment call at any rate, the reality is you can’t price gouge when you are not a monopoly and people can find a similar service elsewhere.

In addition you’re definition of morally wrong is quite different from mine. I don’t condone cheating, that is morally wrong. Taking advantage of the tax laws and the loopholes is smart business. What’s probably going to happen is much of this money will be repatriated back to the US. But tell me anyone who pays more taxes than they are legally obligated to?

 

[AZ63]

No, we don't. Countries in Asia have hundreds of thousands of workers lining up for factory jobs at dollars per day. We don't. Majority of our labor at that pay rate is looking for handouts.

That seems to be the thing. Those countries are so poor that what we consider low pay is a job many would be happy to take. Perhaps the gov. should put policies in place that create jobs instead of handouts. There is a two prong approach on that. Sadly, the gov. has their handout just like many of their constituents.

 

[laurim]

We don't? Sources? Or are you just saying? How about labor to assemble the units that are sold here? I believe India and a South American country made those demands on Apple in exchange for the privilege of selling iPhones in their countries. Perhaps those governments have in mind what is best for their population.
[doublepost=1522636998][/doublepost]
I take exception to your comments that Americans won't do those jobs. As a young man I delivered newspapers. I painted the stands of a raceway. I worked on the grounds crew of a golf course. I worked at a nursery, the plant kind. As a teacher 18 years ago, when my wife and I started a family, I took a job cleaning an office building at night to help make ends meet. I can tell you that I saw plenty of gross things in that building in the bathrooms and elsewhere. If the country makes it too easy not to work then people won't. In a population of roughly 330,000,000 people there are enough people to do the "meticulous, tedious, repetitive work" at least that is the way I see it. I won't sell the American work ethic short. Sure the lazy entitled people grab the headlines but there are plenty of hardworking Americans.

Of course there are hardworking Americans. But many experts who have TRIED to hire Americans for certain jobs have already stated they can’t find Americans interested in them or they quit after finding out what the job is like. Jobs you did as a kid are expected to be boring and easy repetitive. But most adults don’t want to spend 30 yrs doing that kind of job
[doublepost=1522989869][/doublepost]

Simply follow the money - corporations find the cheapest labor, the cheapest raw resources, and use them. Not rocket science, but it is misleading to cloak it in some sort of patriotic ilk, or conversely, a global gift.
[doublepost=1522311694][/doublepost]
That's right - if you don't like living in a poor third world country, just "seek out" additional education (where's the money and wherewithal for that?), get some more skills (after you get off your 16 hour per day low paying job), and ultimately just "get a different job." That's right. The only reason we aren't all zillionaires is that we forgot to "get additional education and skills" and "ultimately get that zillionaire job." OMG. I've seen the light. Thanks for this sage answer to the meaning of life.
[doublepost=1522311897][/doublepost]
No, it is not:

https://www.engadget.com/2012/01/22/why-apples-products-are-designed-in-california-but-assembled/
[doublepost=1522312349][/doublepost]
It's not that Americans can't do the work. It's that they don't want to do the work for dirt poor wages. It's the same reason most agricultural workers are migrants, many illegal, making barely, if even, minimum wage. Most people aren't willing to do back breaking work for low pay. The median wage for ag workers in 2016 was $22540/year, and the reason most of them are hispanic migrants has nothing to do with their skill sets.
[doublepost=1522312494][/doublepost]
If it's an "American company, it means that the high paid executives are officially U.S. citizens.

According to farmers/business owners who have actually tried to hire Americans say the Americans quit after a short time because the work is too hard. So the pay was good enough to accept the job. It was the kind of work that they quit for or didn’t bother applying
[doublepost=1522990228][/doublepost]

I don't give a crap. Let China do the dirty work. We don't need steel manufacturing by ugly, unhealthy factories in the US. We're a developed country that should be doing the work that requires education, not industrial age work. The only thing I care about is the pollution China creates that can affect other parts of the world, and that's the only reason I would argue for an embargo.

Also, they're not making off like bandits. They're just supplying something that we agree to buy. We can choose to not buy, but that would hurt us, so we don't.

I agree with you. America has evolved past doing basic manufacturing and mass production of goods. We can’t compete with other countries costs and we LOVE the cheap prices of the finished goods. We need to enjoy the fact that the tedious, repetitive work is done by someone else and we can aspire to better jobs. But we do also need to get education costs and vocational programs in better shape to get everyone the new skills they need to participate in the new labor force.