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But of course.

It really does feel like pulling teeth to get an AMERICAN tech company, the top one, to invest in AMERICAN workers.

I understand they already do with several corporate locations and a ton of retailers, but the point is they can do even better.

If Apple could never make a better iPhone, there would never be future generations released. It would be one model and thats it. But that’s not the case. The same can be said about the company’s tactics. They are successful, from a business perspective, but they can still be refined at the same time while being mutually beneficial to US economy and the company’s bottom line

Imo
Mmm... I mean, yeah, but Apple also does a lot of business internationally. Yes, their products still say "Designed in California" on them and they sure do make a show of being an American company, but I think a lot of their trajectory is defined by trying to sell product overseas. Just look at the hoops they've been jumping through to sell old iPhones in India.

It might just be that Apple thinks they've already invested enough in the US considering the profits they net here, and so they're more concerned about markets where they feel they've got a better growth potential. In the end, they really are all about their bottom line. I'd imagine Foxconn is probably doing the same sort of analysis, and maybe they've decided one of the markets they could grow in is TV screens in the US. It seems to me that this is more a statement about Foxconn's investment than Apple's.
 
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To be fair, a lot more people buy TVs than Mac Pros. Once they get the factory up and into a production-ready state (which can be a feat, I'm slowly discovering),

People that don't work in manufacturing just don't get it sometimes. I think most are too use to buying what they need at the supermarket and assume that building a manufacturing plant is the same thing. It is sort of like the attitude with respect to the F35 with people expecting a perfect plan out the gate. That isn't how it works with new product development and frankly a new production line is a product all of its own.

they'll probably be able to do a lot of business assembling TVs that will be able to bypass import taxes. No idea if that makes monetary sense in the long term, but I'm assuming Foxconn ran the numbers and it does, otherwise they wouldn't even be talking about it.

It is a flat panel factory from what I understand no TV's as such but rather the panels that go into them. Interestingly such panels can end up in a wide range of hardware that doesn't qualify as being a TV per say. The only strange thing here is "Wisconsin" as I haven't associated them with heavy manufacturing.

On the other hand Foxconn should have access to plenty of cheese to feed the employees and offer as incentives.
 
Whatever the reason this stuff went to China in the first place bringing it to the United States is about a lot more than just labor costs. Most of Apple’s hardware products were never manufactured in the United States so these jobs wouldn’t be coming back as they were never here in the first place. But the way Trump lies he makes it sound like these jobs used to exist and now he’s bringing them back. It’s a lie. If you live in the UK and own an iPhone how does it benefit you if that phone is assembled in the United States vs China? Or is Apple supposed to have manufacturing plants in every country it sells products in?

I think you’re interpreting his words and tweets a little too literally

No one buys that Foxconn was around, suddenly gone, and now back in US.

The point is we’re more consumers than producers, by far, and that can and apparently will improve.

I.e jobs were here, now they seem less so, and admitting there’s a deficit is the first step towards fixing it

If we live in denial that the economy has been great for sometime, because you personally have a job, or will continue to because of your specialized skill, is denying the reality that tons of able-bodied people aren’t working and that may be for personal reasons, but more than likely, economic reasons when you start seeing repeated patterns
 
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Whatever the reason this stuff went to China in the first place bringing it to the United States is about a lot more than just labor costs. Most of Apple’s hardware products were never manufactured in the United States so these jobs wouldn’t be coming back as they were never here in the first place. But the way Trump lies he makes it sound like these jobs used to exist and now he’s bringing them back. It’s a lie. If you live in the UK and own an iPhone how does it benefit you if that phone is assembled in the United States vs China? Or is Apple supposed to have manufacturing plants in every country it sells products in?
People seem to forget that Apple is a global brand, sometimes.
 
The "specialized skills" was a big nothing burger. It was all about paying workers the least amount of money possible to maximize profits. In China, they can pay them peanuts so Apple manufactures there. If China becomes too expensive, Apple will leave. And the idea that these Chinese workers have any kind of specialized skills is ridiculous because most are coming from poor villages with little or no education. If they can figure out how to manufacture an iPhone, any American can.

Ding ding ding. You are the only one that gets this.
The whole US has a whopping 325 million people or so. China has one billion more than us and 90% are just as you said. Poor farmers struggling to survived. Unless a Chinese has a degree, they just do a simple menial task for 12 hours a day.
Not that I wouldn't welcome a new plant like the one mentioned, but it's going to mostly automated than manual.
Remember a couple years ago reading that Foxconn was buying a bunch of robots? They have them now.
 
Nice!

I welcome this,

It’s not like China’s mammoth manufacturing industry is going to be shut down tomorrow from this.

it’s is a start, I like starts.

boggles the mind why we haven’t moved manufacturing here before this. Reduce consumption or at least increase production and reduce export of goods, even if slightly.

I’m ok with that.

—shows that even if we are unwilling to do it to scale of China, for pollution reasons, etc. , “specialized skills” alone weren’t what was holding it back from happening all together. Which is kinda all Tim Cook’s been talking about as the reason.
We should be doing it on the scale of China— *for pollution issues*. China doesn’t care if they dump the chemicals right into their rivers. Wouldn’t happen here.
 
People seem to forget that Apple is a global brand, sometimes.

I don’t think so. They are an American company, created in the US and where the headquarters are located, whose products say Made in China etched in small letters on the backside

No one can deny their reach/demand/influence is global. But they are not a global company. unless you consider that the current CEO is an outright globalist, then I can concede:

http://fortune.com/2017/03/18/trump-tim-cook-globalization/
 
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Are we really supposed to believe that Foxconn just decided within the last 6 months to open a plant in the United States? Seriously? Oh and Apple still hasn’t commented on the 3 big beautiful plants Trump says they’re building here. He’s so full of you know what you can smell him a mile away.
[doublepost=1501105458][/doublepost]
I think you’re interpreting his words and tweets a little too literally

No one buys that Foxconn was around, suddenly gone, and now back in US.

The point is we’re more consumers than producers, by far, and that can and apparently will improve.

I.e jobs were here, now they seem less so, and admitting there’s a deficit is the first step towards fixing it

If we live in denial that the economy has been great for sometime, because you personally have a job, or will continue to because of your specialized skill, is denying the reality that tons of able-bodied people aren’t working and that may be for personal reasons, but more than likely, economic reasons when you start seeing repeated patterns
Ah so the whole don’t take him literally but take him seriously nonsense.
 
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It is a flat panel factory from what I understand no TV's as such but rather the panels that go into them. Interestingly such panels can end up in a wide range of hardware that doesn't qualify as being a TV per say. The only strange thing here is "Wisconsin" as I haven't associated them with heavy manufacturing.
That's a good point, I guess what I meant was assembly of various large-screen appliances and devices that won't need to import their panels from China anymore. I live near a company that has made a name for themselves manufacturing jumbotrons and other very large signs, and would import dozens of panels for a single sign. Not sure if their business will overlap with this Foxconn display factory, but that's the direction I was thinking along.
 
Mac Pro all over again. I'd like to see Trump create more high level, higher wage jobs rather than return America to Industrial Age.
Who's gonna fix the roads and bridges? Who's gonna make sure your city has a function sewer system or water treatment plant?
Who's going to install all that infrastructure required for those high paying to exist in the first place?
Without a strong working class, the U.S. will be in deep trouble.
 
Are we really supposed to believe that Foxconn just decided within the last 6 months to open a plant in the United States? Seriously? Oh and Apple still hasn’t commented on the 3 big beautiful plants Trump says they’re building here. He’s so full of you know what you can smell him a mile away.
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Ah so the whole don’t take him literally but take him seriously nonsense.

Yes when he says bring back jobs he isnt specifically saying Bring back foxconn

I thought that was exceedingly obvious?

What do you think Trump meant when he tweeted covfefe, for you literalists out there?
 
There’s a big difference between can and will. At the end of the day younger Americans just aren’t particularly interested in being farmers, miners, or factory workers, and the ones that are likely don’t understand that this isn’t like a job in an older type of factory. They will need certain skill sets that aren’t a priority in certain parts of the country.

You act like these jobs require 8 years of schoool. Give me a break.
 
I don’t think so. They are an American company, created in the US and where the headquarters are located, whose products say Made in China etched in small letters on the backside

No one can deny their reach/demand/influence is global. But they are not a global company. unless you consider that the current CEO is an outright globalist, then I can concede:

http://fortune.com/2017/03/18/trump-tim-cook-globalization/
How do you define a global company? More Apple revenues come from outside the US these days. That seems pretty global to me.
 
How do you define a global company? More Apple revenues come from outside the US these days. That seems pretty global to me.

“These days” and thats not the way it should be for the top US company, and top brand recognized arguably, in the world.

Hence, why Foxconn is opening some factories in Wisconsin which is in the US, and there are changes being made to address that, vs. not addressing it at all.

What are we arguing about again?

The same people that rip on Trump for taking advantage of a good business move (cheap manufacturing, like Cook with iPhones) i.e. making ties in China and selling them for good bucks, are now upset that US is slowly regaining some manufacturing foothold, no matter how small.

Break that one down for me, would ya?
 
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Wow, didn't see that one coming, but I guess it makes sense.

They have been Apple's and a plethora of others suppliers for a long time now. During that period they've learned and invented manufacturing techniques that they didn't have when they started out that allow them to make stuff for the best in the industry. Thats their strength now, their knowledge, and boy do they have a lot of it. They're really good at what they do, and now they're taking that expertise to directly create jobs in the west. Wow.

Foxconn was known for so many bad things in the past, but with Apple's influence (and Apple have been the only one to take the media fallout from that, despite the fact they were the only ones to try and improve conditions there.. don't get me started....) they have shifted the direction of the business to a stronger and more positive model.

Congratulations Foxconn, I hope it works out.

You do realize that some of that nonsense with respect to Foxconn has been grossly blown out proportion by the liberal media. For example people commit suicide all over the world, yet for some reason a couple of suicides in China get blown out of proportion. Mind you that is in a country with a historically low suicide rate. Here in the USA we have had suicides from workers at the plant I worked at, the only difference is that they did so off property. We also have had people stabbed right in the plant. In no case was there a reason to believe management practices where responsible. In fact in one case OBAMA could rationally be blamed for letting the mentally ill in the country.


AS for knowledge corporations certainly develop a lot of knowledge over the years but there is an issue where you can stagnation without fresh input. This is one advantage of spreading your operations across the world as you end exposed to new ideas and cultures.
 
Yes when he says bring back jobs he isnt specifically saying Bring back foxconn

I thought that was exceedingly obvious?

What do you think Trump meant when he tweeted covfefe, for you literalists out there?
What is he bringing back? When was the United States ever the hot bed of electronics manufacturing? I don’t want to go back to the 1950s (or earlier).
 
I don’t think so. They are an American company, created in the US and where the headquarters are located, whose products say Made in China etched in small letters on the backside

No one can deny their reach/demand/influence is global. But they are not a global company. unless you consider that the current CEO is an outright globalist, then I can concede:

http://fortune.com/2017/03/18/trump-tim-cook-globalization/
Did you read my earlier post that went into more detail on my thoughts here? I think it was actually a reply to one of yours...

I guess if you want the TL;DR, Apple's focus is and always has been on their bottom line. Once that was about nationalism. Now, it's likely they've identified a global marketing strategy as the best way to move more product. As such, it doesn't matter so much where they manufacture their products.

I'm not saying this factory is a bad thing. As I've said elsewhere, Foxconn has probably figured out how this will enable reduced cost when selling products to American consumers in the long term. As an American consumer, that might affect me directly, so I'm down. As an American, I appreciate that it might help some folks in Wisconsin get a job they need. So I'm also down. Nothing to complain about over here. I just think you're hanging an awful lot of praise on what, I suspect, was a very capitalist decision predicated on Foxconn's desire to grow.
 
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What is he bringing back? When was the United States ever the hot bed of electronics manufacturing? I don’t want to go back to the 1950s (or earlier).

You dont have to go back to the 1950’s.

If you dont want manufacturing job, you dont have to take it

You have free will, you know?

Are we going to debate this one too? Keep going, seems like you’re just picking. For what reason, I dont know. Except that I dont hate the president and every move he makes, including the good ones like this, that would be openly applauded had OBama done the same.

in fact some claim something announced to happen soon, 6 months in a presidency, is still something that is or could well be Obama’s doing.

How can we rationally debate if we cant accept

A) Trump is president currently, like him or not
B) this is happening under a Trump presidency
 
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