Apple Continued to Spend Near-Record Amounts of Money Lobbying the Trump Administration in 2018

[coolbreeze]

This administration is doing a great job. Unemployment rate is at a record low, especially for African Americans and hispanics. But go on, keep yelling ORANGE MAN BAD

Orange Man Bad, ringworm bad, making money bad, etc, but ya'll will still drop $1k+ every fall in the name of Capitalism. Nice. You can't have your shiny new telephone if lobbying and free markets are immoral, racist, sexist, whatever-ism-ist. If Apple doesn't lobby, Google will, etc. You have to do it because everyone else does it.

Open Market Bad? Nah. Open Market Good and Orange Man Really Good. Tim knows this, hence the story we are commenting on. Like it or not, corporate lobbying is a thing and isn't going anywhere. Just the way open markets work. This type of spending and lobbying has happened under every president (yes, of varying amounts). Nobody cared until OMB. Now everything is the end of the world just because of OMB. Like millennials are suddenly gravely concerned about how lobbying even be legal ree?!

 

[Carnegie]

What does lobbying entail? is that 6.6 million at Kinko's printing flyers to attach to power lines around DC? Salaries? Office space? or are they literally dumping cash briefcases off at various politician's offices?

When someone increases lobbying spending, what exactly are they spending it on?

The term lobbying is used generally to refer to a wide range of activities.

We're basically talking about paying someone to promote government policy which one favors. It might mean doing research into the effects of certain policies and presenting it to lawmakers. It might mean meeting with lawmakers and explaining complex issues to them, or just trying to persuade them to do this or not do that. It might mean indirectly trying to influence lawmakers by trying to influence constituencies - through, e.g., op-eds. It can also mean holding fund raisers for lawmakers in an effort to curry favor. It can mean a lot of things.

 

[laz232]

Because, among other reasons, in the United States we have a Constitution which prohibits governments from "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." (Emphasis added.)

We have the right to ask governments to implement or not implement policies which we support or oppose. We also have the right to pay others to do that on our behalf.

The important additional part, I believe is : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
Whereby this right was extended to corporations.

 

[jav6454]

While I agree with you mostly, you can't ban lobbying, having a conversation at a party with someone could already be seen as lobbying if the other side suggest something.

I think his point may be geared towards spending money to have people talk for you to politicians for gains.

I have no problem if for example Tim Cook were to spend two hours on the phone with various politicians to get his viewpoints across on issues. However using money as a "donation" which in turn helps laws bend to his views should be seen questionable at best and federal crime (corruption) at worst.

 

[blucable]

It's sickening because Trump the Republican is in office that is the only reason it is sickening. In the other hand, putting Trump aside with the political party, the economy is doing a lot better and yea, unemployment rate is finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I see what they’re doing it, but it’s sickening they spend any money on this administration.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

It's so refreshing to hear that our government is still completely controlled by rich people and big corporations. Much better than letting us lower income folks have any power. /s

You are,to,damn stupid, haha /s

 

[Kaibelf]

This administration is doing a great job. Unemployment rate is at a record low, especially for African Americans and hispanics. But go on, keep yelling ORANGE MAN BAD

Not everyone thinks that gaining money is more important than being a good, honest person. I have to say though, I'm disappointed that so many of the members here upvoted a comment like yours when even your handle has white supremacist overtones. Shame on everyone involved.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

That's how mafia works.

 

[Glideslope]

It's smart, there's more at stake for Apple right now particularly with China trade relations.

Absolutely. It amazes me that people believe China is not enforcing the ruling of their Copyright Court due to the release of 12.1.2. It’s due to lobbyists on both sides of the Pacific. It’s also part of the ongoing Trade Fiasico. Sure, many don’t like it. However it’s never going to end. “He who has the gold makes the rules.” If people don’t like it, stop purchasing Apple products. Otherwise they need a reality check.

 

[tjleonard]

This administration is doing a great job. Unemployment rate is at a record low, especially for African Americans and hispanics. But go on, keep yelling ORANGE MAN BAD

A great job? You’re not an employee missing a second paycheck, living paycheck to paycheck, and being used as pawns. That’s NOT the time to demand 5 billion for a wall.

 

[KPandian1]

Countries around the world have ridden on our back for too long. President Trump is the first to realize this and not do 'business as usual' and take a cut under the table to keep the status quo.

McConnell promised on day one to cripple and hinder anything the previous governments proposed - both times. Even with that, those administrations grew the economy, brought net immigration down, increasing deportation, managed to pass some kind of first step to universal health care, made peace with the friendly nations that Dubya managed to piss-off, etc.

Drumpf is the epitome of the bribe taking business man, and crooked in his dealings all thru his life.

Lobbying rules were written by lawyer-politicians to make bribing legal. Only USA has this and so manage to project itself as a corruption minimal nation. Without this, USA stats will show it to be as corrupt as India or one of those derided African nations.

Nixon opened the China cheap labor floodgate; both sides in the congress and administration encouraged it for 45+ years. Drumpf still uses such labor - he does not care where the jobs are increasing; remember ZTE and 500,000 desperate jobs saved for his daughter and her business!

Neither side wants to handle illegal immigration's basic problem - employment for the undocumented. Again, Drumpf has no shame using them in all his business ventures. The main solution will come from punishing the employers - still not happening, even though the previous administration passed the fast check system for verifying work-permits/SSNs. The penalty for getting caught is paltry and not exercised. How about $100,000 to $1 million penalty per occurrence for using undocumented labor - each employee?! That is how you stop the glamour of American jobs to the immigrants. Human rights asylum is a different issue.

Drumpf's tariffs are just punishing the consumer with increased cost - the retaliation by China taxes its citizens; neither government cares about the hardship and increased cost for the consumer. It is just grandstanding!

How about banning USA companies from "interacting" with Chinese corporations - worked wonders for the ZTE experiment. Target Huawei, reinstate ZTE ban, and see how quickly this trade war comes to an end.

There is no political will to end these problems - immigration, trade imbalance, human rights violations, etc., by both parties. Instead, build a wall and punish the government employees - that makes better visual for the media. What a joke.

 

[Carnegie]

The important additional part, I believe is : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
Whereby this right was extended to corporations.

Generally speaking, the individual rights protected by our Constitution have always been considered to apply even when they act in a corporate context. Or, as most would say it, corporations have always been considered to enjoy constitutional protections, with limited exceptions. The consequences of that not being so would be unthinkable. We've long just taken it for granted.

Corporations are either, depending on how one wants to construe them, people acting in association with others or things which people use to act. Corporations don't exist or act by their own impetus. We are always talking about the actions of individuals - actual humans. Every corporate action that has ever been undertaken was the action of individuals, at the direction of individuals, for the purposes of individuals.

That said, Citizens United didn't make that the case (legally). It didn't, e.g., extend free speech rights to corporations. It didn't extend petition rights to corporations. It didn't make it so that so many of our rights continue to apply when we act in a corporate context or when a corporation is somehow involved. The notion that Citizens United upended centuries of precedent (which you aren't necessarily suggesting, but which is a narrative which some have peddled in the wake of the Citizens United decision) is rubbish. It had no such grand effect. It was quite consistent with how we'd long construed constitutional rights. What it did was reverse a fairly recent decision which had itself been in conflict with long-standing doctrine.


EDIT: I meant to add... To be clear, whatever we think of Citizens United, it wasn't about corporate lobbying. It was about corporate independent expenditures.

 

[laz232]

Generally speaking, the individual rights protected by our Constitution have always been considered to apply even when they act in a corporate context. Or, as most would say it, corporations have always been considered to enjoy constitutional protections, with limited exceptions. The consequences of that not being so would be unthinkable. We've long just taken it for granted.

Corporations are either, depending on how one wants to construe them, people acting in association with others or things which people use to act. Corporations don't exist or act by their own impetus. We are always talking about the actions of individuals - actual humans. Every corporate action that has ever been undertaken was the action of individuals, at the direction of individuals, for the purposes of individuals.

That said, Citizens United didn't make that the case (legally). It didn't, e.g., extend free speech rights to corporations. It didn't extend petition rights to corporations. It didn't make it so that so many of our rights continue to apply when we act in a corporate context or when a corporation is somehow involved. The notion that Citizens United upended centuries of precedent (which you aren't necessarily suggesting, but which is a narrative which some have peddled in the wake of the Citizens United decision) is rubbish. It had no such grand effect. It was quite consistent with how we'd long construed constitutional rights. What it did was reverse a fairly recent decision which had itself been in conflict with long-standing doctrine.


EDIT: I meant to add... To be clear, whatever we think of Citizens United, it wasn't about corporate lobbying. It was about corporate independent expenditures.

Thank you for explaining that - I had looked through it before and I got the impression that it set an explicit legal precedent in terms of corporate campaign financing (a narrow aspect of more general lobbying) and one that is unusual in a Western democratic system.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Wait, does any know know if Apple has an in-house Government Relations team, or are they outsourcing? If they’re outsourcing, who are they using?

 

[badtzmaru]

An important note: Apple's lobbying expenditures cover the legislative branch, in addition to the executive branch.

Expenditures affecting the executive branch can fairly be termed as "lobbying the Trump administration."

Expenditures affecting the legislative branch of the U.S. government, which includes both chambers of Congress, cannot.

 

[Edsel]

A lot of misinformation in here about lobbyists. Yes, some individual lobbyists may be bad but the majority are there to educate government about particular industries and how government regulations & laws impact businesses. The private sector produces the taxes needed to operate our government. Without the private sector our government would cease to exist as a democracy.

Unfortunately, most members of Congress now have little experience in the private sector and therefore have little knowledge how their rule making can harm businesses.

 

[BODYBUILDERPAUL]

Trump playing hardball because he secretly wants a new Mac Pro.

I'm sure that he doesn't know what a Mac Pro is?
[doublepost=1548263601][/doublepost]

This is sickening to me to spend any money on the current state of power struggles. I know it’s just been a little over a month, but an interest free loan to the government workers forced with no paycheck right now would go a lot further.

I agree. Come on Apple, please help the people!!!

 

[centauratlas]

When the government regulates everything, you have to spend money to lobby it. The simple solution is to scale back the scope of government to that of the founding and let people be free.

 

[Hirakata]

A great job? You’re not an employee missing a second paycheck, living paycheck to paycheck, and being used as pawns. That’s NOT the time to demand 5 billion for a wall.

And the Dems saying no to the 5 billion are not using the unpaid government employees as pawns?

 

[GadgetBen]

Trump is a prehistoric orange ape who doesn’t deserve to be president.

 

[citysnaps]

This administration is doing a great job. Unemployment rate is at a record low, especially for African Americans and hispanics. But go on, keep yelling ORANGE MAN BAD

A great job? That's really funny.

I'm curious... would you happen to be a trump University graduate? Perhaps with honors?

 

[Hirakata]

Trump is a prehistoric orange ape who doesn’t deserve to be president.

Source?

 

[magicschoolbus]

Orange Man Bad, ringworm bad, making money bad, etc, but ya'll will still drop $1k+ every fall in the name of Capitalism. Nice. You can't have your shiny new telephone if lobbying and free markets are immoral, racist, sexist, whatever-ism-ist. If Apple doesn't lobby, Google will, etc. You have to do it because everyone else does it.

Open Market Bad? Nah. Open Market Good and Orange Man Really Good. Tim knows this, hence the story we are commenting on. Like it or not, corporate lobbying is a thing and isn't going anywhere. Just the way open markets work. This type of spending and lobbying has happened under every president (yes, of varying amounts). Nobody cared until OMB. Now everything is the end of the world just because of OMB. Like millennials are suddenly gravely concerned about how lobbying even be legal ree?!

Did you click on the wrong bookmark?
www.reddit.com/r/the_donald

 

[itguy06]

Unemployment rates hide Underemployment rates, which means that most getting new jobs are in short-term, unsteady and part-time jobs. But, go on, continue with the talking points and platitudes. The course the country is on requires you to be participating in the dumbest Bird Box challenge yet to not see.

Lowering unemployment rates for near 3 years now doesn't mean short term, unsteady jobs. If those low #'s were due to that, we'd see spikes which we have not. So something seems to be working.

Bur keep up with the talking points to reinforce your blind hatred for Trump. He's not been the best but he's far from the worse. Things that matter to the everyday American seem to be doing better. He's actually trying to address illegal immigration, something the past 4 Presidents kicked down the curb.

If we all wanted to end lobbying for good we could. See, every year we vote. When you go to vote, if the person is called the Incumbent, vote for the other person, ideally one not with a D or R after their name as both parties are equally corrupt. Keep doing that and get them out every time they get in. Then you will see change as lobbyists will have little power as it will be a revolving door.

 

[iMi]

We need a revolution. Something has to change.

Government gives insane amount of money back to corporations. Corporations spend insane amount of money lobbying the same government. It's like an endless loop of greed, politics and money changing hands between those who have and those who have a whole lot more.

While the rest of Americans struggle to make ends meet...