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Donald Trump Tells Tim Cook He'll Offer Apple 'Very Large Tax Cut' to Make Products in America

DynaFXD said:
A strong dollar means that your goods cost more than other nations. In addition to high labor and other costs, that will now be (has been) working against you.


Except he is president-elect of a ->country<-, not a ->business<-. One is a currency provider/manger, the other is a currency user. These "run the country like a business" points of view are as bad as "Well I can't deficit spend, why should the country be able to?" They are puerile points of view that do not match the reality of how things work.


Sure. And only the citizens of a country should fund the worlds largest, by far, armed forces, build its roads, and cover other operating costs. Big business should not have to pay any taxes and get a free ride on the backs of the people. Yes, that is hyperbole and, granted, modern tax policy in light of the new economy can be an issue to discuss. But this over simplification to sway voters one way or the other doesn't help.


And a strong dollar and high standard of living with governing health and environmental regulations all work against that goal in the global economy. What are you proposing to give up so that we can compete with the squalor of manufacturing in the third world or the environmental disaster area that are portions of China? There's no free lunch here and people thinking any president (all who have tried, BTW) will change that are deluding themselves.
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What I am proposing is for this country to be "great again" is to start exporting things again. Good jobs come when we export things. Service jobs don't offer that. Btw, we were a great exporter in the 50s and 60s with a strong dollar.


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Juan007 said:
Don't fall for it Tim, 2 seconds after you open the factory Trump will send the FBI to put data stealing HW in all your phones. Also who will work there after Trump throws all immigrants in jail?
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Yeah I saw that same Occupy Democrats meme, too. Hey, can't argue with hysteria. ;)
 
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citizenzen said:
It's the method of bring those jobs back that is questionable.

What "substantial regulation cuts" is trump proposing? Does you think regulations exist merely to punish corporations?
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They exist for all sorts of reasons. Some are well intentioned, safety, etc. Others merely serve special interest groups that had some political influence and some are ones that are unnecessary or counterproductive ones issued by a bureaucrat, well-intentioned or not.
 
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Sefstah said:
Ok you're right. Lets do NOTHING about the situation. Happy?
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Haven't heard anyone suggest that. It is just that the problem is not an easy one to solve and a lot of people are thinking (and voted?) like all it takes is one person to simply say "do it". It doesn't work that way and for every bit you remove from here, you pay for over there. Every president has tried to work this problem from their own points of view. So far, Trump has not outlined any serious policy or stance that makes evaluating his approach(es) a possibility. Just happy talk and "I can make it happen." Ain't seen it yet, myself. But we'll see, eventually, I guess.
 
Sorry, but corporations have proven time and time again that they don't view tax cuts as representing any type of obligation to serve the general public. They just don't. And there's no reason for anyone to believe that they would. They're private groups and exist to serve their own self-interest. The government is supposed to be the balance to that and represent the interests of the general public. So when you have publicly elected officials acting as though it's business interests that are first in line for government policy, then you know there's something wrong with the system. It's just a double-whammy without any check or balance.
 
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azentropy said:
I'm sure others have pointed this out, but the issues I see are:

1) Those jobs are getting fewer and fewer as automation occurs
2) Those jobs are kinda seasonal/cyclical. They ramp up at product releases, then downsize of the lifetime of that product . Are people going to be happy with that type of job.
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Tesla is a leader in manufacturing automation. Yet, they keep hiring locally.
 
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Dmunjal said:
Tesla is a leader in manufacturing automation. Yet, they keep hiring locally.
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Much of TESLA automobiles are made by robots....same for most auto manufactures....even Ferrari.
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gnipgnop said:
Sorry, but corporations have proven time and time again that they don't view tax cuts as representing any type of obligation to serve the general public. They just don't. And there's no reason for anyone to believe that they would. They're private groups and exist to serve their own self-interest. The government is supposed to be the balance to that and represent the interests of the general public. So when you have publicly elected officials acting as though it's business interests that are first in line for government policy, then you know there's something wrong with the system. It's just a double-whammy without any check or balance.
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CEO of Cisco is paid $2,000,000 a month....and he just layed off 144 employees....
 
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brsboarder said:
Our unemployment rate is pretty low, unless we want to start accepting wages like those in Asian this isn't going to help.
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The "unemployment rate is low" is a myth that is one of the most destructive ones out there. It's only "low" because we have a system in which we don't consider you "unemployed" if you have stopped looking or otherwise dropped out of the work force. We have massive numbers of people who simply aren't counted. Hopefully, there will be non-partisan support for changing how we calculate this number.

Secondly, under no scenario would this occur overnight anyways. What it would hopefully bring is a new focus on preparing the engineers and other skilled folks to operate these factories that would have to be built. Yes, some lower skilled employees would be needed, but since automation/robotics is the future the jobs will be different than the large assembly lines of low paid workers you are imagining. And no, that doesn't mean all would need to be "college educated." This could spark a needed renaissance in occupational training and vocational education that doesn't leave our children saddled with debt and years behind.
 
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Dmunjal said:
What I am proposing is for this country to be "great again" is to start exporting things again. Good jobs come when we export things. Service jobs don't offer that.
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I do not disagree. But so far, we haven't see a concrete plan and who or what will feel the pinch to make it happen. FWIW, I don't think either side can have it 100% right, it is all compromises, after all. I just hope that we do not reduce ourselves to thinking that the masses living like the manufacturing class in Pakistan, while the bosses and managers are the new aristocracy, are a metrics for success.
 
apb89 said:
Tax cuts? Don't multinational corporations pay a tax rate effectively lower than an average single American? Am I missing something here? How about we stop with the tax cuts and instead create new tax laws that do not allow the hoarding of cash in other countries. Then bring all of the hoarded cash from overseas back to America, invest that money into education and infrastructure... if they do not comply then they will be breaking the law.
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Of course corporation tax should be lower than income tax. The very reason money is not brought back to the US is that corporation tax is too hgh compared to other countries. The money in other countries did not leave the US it was earned there. There is no reason to bring it back to receive a higher tax bill, that makes no sense.
 
And I said, ‘Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants, where instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam, and going to the places that you go to, you’re making your product right here.’

Cook acknowledged the proposition by nondescriptly saying "I understand that", according to Trump.

Also Mike wanted me to tell you, ‘You shall marry a nice wife and pray away the gay!’

"I understand."
 
apb89 said:
Tax cuts? Don't multinational corporations pay a tax rate effectively lower than an average single American? Am I missing something here? How about we stop with the tax cuts and instead create new tax laws that do not allow the hoarding of cash in other countries. Then bring all of the hoarded cash from overseas back to America, invest that money into education and infrastructure... if they do not comply then they will be breaking the law.
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That cash that you think is hoarded was earned in foreign countries and foreign taxes paid on it. The point that PE Trump and others are making is that there should be an incentive to bring it to the US since the current law taxes repatriation of foreign earnings at the highest rate in the world, around 35%. No sane company or responsible CEO would have their foreign earnings double taxed at a rate like that. Arguably, since they have already paid taxes on it and it is foreign earned, they shouldn't pay anything to repatriate the money, but others have argued for a rate such as 10%
 
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rdrr said:
Are you seriously trying to state that technology cannot replace humans, in a forum about a company that innovated and completely redefines a lot of industries?
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The Long Beach port here tried. But the Union fought ard to not automate or upgrade the system. If Apple decides to hire people here and change to robotic later, Apple would have to battle the Unions.
 
A few points:
- It doesn't matter if production would need to be highly automated in order for domestic production to be feasible, rising wage costs in China are already driving assembly line automation. Bringing production back stateside, even if it requires lowing the tax rate on profits derived is still a net positive for the US. Automation doesn't mean no/ minimal jobs, it means may jobs designing, manufacturing, supporting, and upgrading the automation equipment. All of these jobs are highly paid technical positions, many of which may not require a college degree and can be an excellent career path for workers that would otherwise be working in a McDonalds.

- The "trickle down" effect of domestic production is hard to estimate. The reason many of the suppliers of subcomponents are currently located in Asia, isn't because they were born there, it's because the demand was pushed for production of the subcomponents to be produced near the final product. Bring the assembly of PCB's back to the US, and it may be more cost-competitive for your processor supplier to start making your processors domestically, rather than ship them across the world. Bring final assembly of your products back to the US, and it may become cost-competitive for your display supplier to start manufacturing locally.

- Exporting goods to other nations, vs importing goods will always be better for our economy.

- The US/ Japan currently headquarters many of the companies that are suppliers to Apple. Out of all the components in an iPhone, how many are sourced from companies headquartered in China?
 
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People forget that corporations are taxed three times, essentially. There's the corporate tax, there's the taxes paid by their employees, there's the taxes paid on their stocks and dividends. If corporations were taxed dramatically lower in the US we'd see more jobs (which are taxed) and more corporations moving here and investing here. Their stocks would go up and the government would get a nice big chunk of change taxing that. Apple could bring its money here, spread it around to local businesses with new buildings, new purchases of business related resources, probably increase its charitable giving, buy up more start-ups (most of which would be American companies, a boon for tech entrepreneurs and the tax collectors as well). Let the government tax jobs, not job creators and we'd see a much lower unemployment rate, which means higher salaries because of demand, and the government can make a ton of money taxing high-paying jobs.
 
truthertech said:
The "unemployment rate is low" is a myth that is one of the most destructive ones out there. It's only "low" because we have a system in which we don't consider you "unemployed" if you have stopped looking or otherwise dropped out of the work force. We have massive numbers of people who simply aren't counted. Hopefully, there will be non-partisan support for changing how we calculate this number.

Secondly, under no scenario would this occur overnight anyways. What it would hopefully bring is a new focus on preparing the engineers and other skilled folks to operate these factories that would have to be built. Yes, some lower skilled employees would be needed, but since automation/robotics is the future the jobs will be different than the large assembly lines of low paid workers you are imagining. And no, that doesn't mean all would need to be "college educated." This could spark a needed renaissance in occupational training and vocational education that doesn't leave our children saddled with debt and years behind.
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***************
Using the same methods in the 1980's...when unemployment dropped under Reagan...no one questioned the figures...using the same methods under Clinton....no one questioned the low unemployment numbers....after Obama gets elected...now all of a sudden....the numbers are all inaccurate....Yeah..right.
 
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Dmunjal said:
What I am proposing is for this country to be "great again" is to start exporting things again. Good jobs come when we export things. Service jobs don't offer that. Btw, we were a great exporter in the 50s and 60s with a strong dollar.
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The conditions of the world market were vastly different than they are today.
 
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Nde said:
The Long Beach port here tried. But the Union fought ard to not automate or upgrade the system. If Apple decides to hire people here and change to robotic later, Apple would have to battle the Unions.
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Sorry they don't have to battle Unions if they don't have manufacturing jobs here now anyway. This is a greenfield opportunity. Just like when other countries decide to build new infrastructure and that have an existing infrastructure they don't have to deal with the baggage of trying to update said infrastructure if they start new.

Also did you read the part of cutting regulations? I hope one of the regulations isn't Unions, but I do think that OSHA might be. I would be cautious about what regulations he is talking about cutting.
 
truthertech said:
That cash that you think is hoarded was earned in foreign countries and foreign taxes paid on it. The point that PE Trump and others are making is that there should be an incentive to bring it to the US since the current law taxes repatriation of foreign earnings at the highest rate in the world, around 35%. No sane company or responsible CEO would have their foreign earnings double taxed at a rate like that.
Click to expand...

The tax rate already paid in another country is subtracted from the U.S. rate when repatriating money. There is no "double-tax". Also, the incredibly low interest rates in the U.S. from the Fed allow companies like Apple to hold bond sales that essentially act as if the government were paying them to borrow. They have nothing to complain about when it comes to fairness and access to money.
 
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