Tim Cook to Attend Donald Trump's Tech Summit on Wednesday

[2010mini]

That's like begging the music industry to find us another Elvis. Never gonna happen unfortunately.

Music industry never needed Elvis. It had a ton of artists that were 100X more talented...

they were just the wrong colour.
[doublepost=1481513795][/doublepost]

I'm on board with Trump talking with these companies to try and get them to house manufacturing here in the US instead of China.

Funny... I hear conservatives talk about the free market. Yet they are also for government interfering in where companies choose to do business and where to set up shop. Do they REALLY believe a FREE market?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

And there is this image which is making its way around the internets.

It pretty much tells what I've felt about good friends who 'went there'.

Trump is a clear and present danger to the Constitution, and this country, and it's damned sad that so many people were conned to support him...

My sister was one of them.



Cook will probably stay long enough to hear if Trump is going to let them repatriate all that cash Apple has been sitting on around the world. After that, depending on how that works out, he might stay for a back rub, and maybe a horsey ride...

 

[steve333]

Someone who knows more than me can maybe explain: We have 4.6% unemployment (fairly hot economy), we generally tend to prefer higher-paying manufacturing (e.g., making silicon chips, aeronautics, robotics) and service jobs, so why do we want bring assembly jobs back to the US?

The unemployment rate is not really that low, millions have stopped looking for jobs. You need a strong manufacturing base to have a string country. Both Partys have decimated this country with their 'free' trade nonsense. NAFTA started it all, the beginning of the end of the Middle Class

But assembly jobs are not a long term solution. Like when any other occupation throughout history became obsolete, we must pivot to something else to create jobs.

There is nothing else to pivot to. Those are good paying labor intensive jobs that millions of workers had access to and they never should have been allowed to leave

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Funny... I hear conservatives talk about the free market. Yet they are also for government interfering in where companies choose to do business and where to set up shop. Do they REALLY believe a FREE market?

The problem with your remark is that it isn't a 'free market'. It's a market driven by greed and total lack of empathy.

How can American workers compete in a country that has no minimum wage, and the workers get no benefits, and where the cost of living is a slight fraction of here?

How can American workers compete with slave labor. With workers working six days a week or even seven, and nearly 20 hour days, for less than a hundred dollars a week. No benefits. How?

The free market has always been about increasing shareholder revenue, and management team salary and benefits, and less about anything as quaint as 'patriotism', and 'empathy'.

Product prices have stayed the same, or increased, while the cost of good sold has plummeted, and along with it, quality. The stories are endless about crappy quality control and the toxic and fatally flawed products coming in to the country. A country, mind you, that will literally take *anything* in their borders. Chines toxic drywall? Accepted. Chinese toxic dog food? Accepted. Toxic kids jewelry? Accepted. Toxic toys laced with lead? Accepted. Plywood and particle board made with toxic glues? Accepted. The EU is being killed because they will stand up to corporations and block their junk poisoning people, but the good old USA will take everything, until it starts killing people and pets, and only after the number hits some magical level.

One could say that the free market isn't free. It involves lowering, or even removing the minimum wage. It involves removing, or lowering, the age where children can be put to work. It involves denying workers their overtime rights. It involves removing the eight-hour day and five day a week work rules. It involves driving the living standard of the lower and middle classes to the level of the Vietnam, or Korean, Bangladesh, or Chinese worker. It involves bringing back debters prisons, and allowing 'company stores' to literally own people. Like China, having 'worker camps' where they are paid a stipend to live in the companies barracks, and if they are fired, have to pay that money back.

America, and the UK were like that not all that long ago. People realized that human dignity meant something. That human beings were not farm animals, they were not pieces of equipment to be bought or sold.

Henry Ford realized that paying his employees a living wage meant they could afford to buy his cars. Their cars. The car they very well worked on themselves. We have people working already in this country that can't afford to EAT let alone shop at the places they work. And healthcare was a pipe dream, until the ACA was passed.

The free market is a cop-out An excuse to bring the living standard of the clear majority of American citizens to the level of dirt poor people living in a communist country.

It should be a disgrace, but it keeps the shareholders happy, and they can buy more politicians to rain more hell down on the vast majority of the citizens of this once great country.

 

[kstotlani]

Fixed that for you.

"Freddie has left the building" - Nah. There is a reason we use Elvis everywhere

 

[Dmunjal]

Socialism is only good when money is redistributed to corporations, right? That's Trump's basic plan.

By lowering taxes on income that has already been taxed abroad?

 

[wigby]

Imagine if SJ was alive, what would he be saying at that summit?

He wouldn't be invited because of his public persona and also because Apple wouldn't be the biggest company in the room. Cook made Apple the size it is. It would've shrunk below Google under Jobs because Jobs would've tried a Hail Mary with the watch and blew it more than Cook did. Also, Jobs would've botched the last few iPhone releases more. Yes, I'm a parallel universe traveler.

 

[pommie82]

Tim Cook is more interested in have a meeting with trump then making sure all his products are out for xmas e.g. AirPods he wouldn't of got away with this if steve was around

Tim Cook is going to make people lose faith in the logo just like it was years ago

 

[wigby]

Apple CEO Tim Cook is among a small group of tech leaders who plan to attend President-elect Donald Trump's reported tech summit at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Wednesday, according to Recode.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and President-elect Donald Trump (Photo: Gage Skidmore)​

Other attendees will allegedly include the CEOs of Google parent company Alphabet, Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Oracle, and Tesla. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was also invited, and he is likely to attend, the report noted.

There could be a few other attendees, as invites reportedly continued to be sent by Trump's chief of staff Reince Priebus, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and presidential transition team adviser and tech investor Peter Thiel late into the week.

A handful of tech leaders have reportedly declined the invitation, as the report noted some of the technology companies and executives disagree with Trump on a myriad of key issues, ranging from encryption to immigration reform.In addition, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has reportedly sent mixed signals about being invited or not.

Attending
o Apple CEO Tim Cook
o Alphabet CEO Larry Page
o Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
o Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
o Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins
o IBM CEO Ginni Rometty
o Intel CEO Brian Krzanich
o Oracle CEO Safra Catz
o Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
o Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (Likely)
Not Attending
o Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
o Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
o Netflix CEO Reed Hastings
o Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
o Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield
o Dropbox CEO Drew Houston
o HP CEO Meg Whitman
o Mark Cuban

The topics to be discussed at the roundtable meeting were not disclosed, but Trump has previously expressed his desires to reform the corporate tax code, reduce regulation, and negotiate better trade deals with other countries.

Trump previously said he plans to offer Apple a "very large tax cut" alongside "substantial regulation cuts" that will incentivize the iPhone maker to manufacture its products in the United States, rather than in China and other overseas countries.

"We're going to get Apple to start building their damn computers and things in this country instead of in other countries," said Trump, while campaigning at Liberty University in Virginia earlier this year.

Apple did reportedly ask its Taiwanese manufacturing partner Foxconn to study the possibility of moving iPhone production to the United States, although Foxconn chairman Terry Gou was said to be less enthusiastic about the idea due to inevitably higher production costs compared to China.

Meanwhile, Trump called for an Apple boycott after the company refused to comply with a court order to unlock the iPhone used by shooter Syed Farook in the San Bernardino attack last December. The FBI later dropped its lawsuit against Apple after reportedly turning to Israeli company Cellebrite to crack the iPhone.

Trump said Cook congratulated him on winning the election, but the Apple chief was personally a Hillary Clinton supporter. Following Trump's victory, Cook urged Apple employees to "move forward together" despite "uncertainties ahead."

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Tim Cook to Attend Donald Trump's Tech Summit on Wednesday

Does anyone believe this isn't an ego stroke for Trump? Please speak up so we can all laugh at you now. Let me go through the highlights...Trump talks about himself and congratulates himself. Trump then makes demands that only a moron knowing nothing about tech demands. Then Trumps lackeys parrot his stupid messages. I think that covers it. Goodbye all.

On the bright side, this might forge better relationships among tech giants against a common enemy and administration. Let's hope Trump isn't smart enough to try and divide and conquer.

 

[handsome pete]

There is nothing else to pivot to. Those are good paying labor intensive jobs that millions of workers had access to and they never should have been allowed to leave

They are jobs that are going to be continually phased out due to automation. This is even happening in the countries that these jobs went to. These jobs are never coming back and there is no long term future for them.

History has shown that when one part of the labor force becomes obsolete then something else takes its place. That's where efforts should be focused.

However ultimately that may become futile as automation is set to intrude on much more than just the low skill labor market.

 

[unobtainium]

By lowering taxes on income that has already been taxed abroad?

Why make exceptions for rich corporations? Let them pay the exact same taxes to repatriate their money as everybody else.

 

[Dmunjal]

Why make exceptions for rich corporations? Let them pay the exact same taxes to repatriate their money as everybody else.

He hasn't passed any laws yet. I expect the corporate tax rate cut would apply to all corporations.

 

[Dmunjal]

They are jobs that are going to be continually phased out due to automation. This is even happening in the countries that these jobs went to. These jobs are never coming back and there is no long term future for them.

History has shown that when one part of the labor force becomes obsolete then something else takes its place. That's where efforts should be focused.

However ultimately that may become futile as automation is set to intrude on much more than just the low skill labor market.

This is a defeatist attitude . You sound like Obama. Let's just give up?

Here is Tesla, one of the most advanced factories in the world hiring a lot of well paid workers in one of the most expensive places in the world.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/...ion-in-fremont-next-to-existing-auto-factory/

It can be done.

 

[Mcmeowmers]

So do you want the U.S. to make special tax deals with its largest corporations or change the trade deals with China, maybe adding tariffs?

More tax rules is not going to fix the issue. Renegotiating trade deals and imposing trade tariffs if needed.
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I doubt it. Trump need these companies to work with him. Trump doesn't need the media.

How does he need them? It's not a "us and tech companies" versus Trump kind of thing. Trump wants to bring jobs and investment back into America and these companies are all ears because they want more money too. Win win.

 

[handsome pete]

This is a defeatist attitude . You sound like Obama. Let's just give up?

Here is Tesla, one of the most advanced factories in the world hiring a lot of well paid workers in one of the most expensive places in the world.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/...ion-in-fremont-next-to-existing-auto-factory/

It can be done.

Defeatist? Are you even reading what I type? These jobs are not the future and are not sustainable. Sure, we should do what we can to keep them while they're still viable, but they are going away regardless. There's nothing defeatist about it. It's like the idiots saying they're going to bring the coal industry back. Cheap natural gas and other alternatives killed coal. The market has spoken on that one, yet it's the "free market capitalists" that insist otherwise.

 

[2010mini]

This is a defeatist attitude . You sound like Obama. Let's just give up?

Here is Tesla, one of the most advanced factories in the world hiring a lot of well paid workers in one of the most expensive places in the world.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/...ion-in-fremont-next-to-existing-auto-factory/

It can be done.

Yes it can. But this is different than a company bring jobs back here. This company forge a new path in making an automobile. And if you remember... a path that has been fought against by various crony capitalists who sought to use government to protect their own business interests.

Stop looking for jobs to come back. Start looking to create new opportunities in future industries such as renewable energy.

 

[magicschoolbus]

I just don't get this argument by Trump sycophants. Objective evidence (remember that old thing) supports mainstream journalism; they cannot lie to you because they are regulated and you can fact check.

Unlike the fake news that pops on your "non main stream media" sites, which is regularly debunked and not believed by anybody with a modicum of intelligence.

But as soon as you brought up "main stream media", I knew you were looking to support your views with whatever "news" you could.

Good luck with your economy under Trump. He's already started lying to you. But you more than deserve to be deceived if you fell for the ********* he fed you.

Fake News:

HILLARY COULD WIN TEXAS
HILLARY WILL WIN PRESIDENCY IN LANDSLIDE
COULD HILLARY TURN TEXAS RED?
+20 LEAD FOR CLINTON IN LATEST POLL
REPUBLICANS AT BREAKING POINT - GOP IS CRUMBLING
TRUMP IS TEARING UP THE PARTY FROM WITHIN
CLINTON FOUNDATION DIDN'T SELL URANIUM TO RUSSIA WITH URANIUM ONE DEAL
ONLY 3 STATES MAY VOTE RED IN THE 2016 ELECTION
LITERALLY SHAKING: HILLARY'S PANTSUITS ARE AMAZING

 

[Dmunjal]

Defeatist? Are you even reading what I type? These jobs are not the future and are not sustainable. Sure, we should do what we can to keep them while they're still viable, but they are going away regardless. There's nothing defeatist about it. It's like the idiots saying they're going to bring the coal industry back. Cheap natural gas and other alternatives killed coal. The market has spoken on that one, yet it's the "free market capitalists" that insist otherwise.

Coal is dead and so is legacy manufacturing. But there are other new industries that can take it's place. We have to build things in this country and export them. Germany and Japan do and they have many decent paying manufacturing jobs. Not just traditional assembly lines. When you can export products for a profit, you can create sustainable well paying jobs. We have to reverse the trade deficit.

What we can't do is only create low wage service jobs and a small percentage of STEM jobs and leave everyone else in between on welfare, unemployment, and other entitlements paid for by debt and quantitative easing.

 

[Dmunjal]

Yes it can. But this is different than a company bring jobs back here. This company forge a new path in making an automobile. And if you remember... a path that has been fought against by various crony capitalists who sought to use government to protect their own business interests.

Stop looking for jobs to come back. Start looking to create new opportunities in future industries such as renewable energy.

I think that's what I said. Jobs come after innovation which requires entrepreneurs. I have lived in Silicon Valley my entire life so I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Kajje]

Zuck sends assistant to take notes, possibly to collect goody bag.

 

[ILikeAllOS]

Hopefully all these tech companies will use this opportunity to convince Trump to not spend his term(s) pushing **** like SOPA, PIPA, Protect IP, keep Net Neutrality, no weakening encryption or creating backdoors, supporting causes important to the EFF and finally if he would also try to repeal Bill Clinton's DMCA that would be great!

 

[kobalap]

The problem with your remark is that it isn't a 'free market'. It's a market driven by greed and total lack of empathy.

How can American workers compete in a country that has no minimum wage, and the workers get no benefits, and where the cost of living is a slight fraction of here?

How can American workers compete with slave labor. With workers working six days a week or even seven, and nearly 20 hour days, for less than a hundred dollars a week. No benefits. How?

The free market has always been about increasing shareholder revenue, and management team salary and benefits, and less about anything as quaint as 'patriotism', and 'empathy'.

Product prices have stayed the same, or increased, while the cost of good sold has plummeted, and along with it, quality. The stories are endless about crappy quality control and the toxic and fatally flawed products coming in to the country. A country, mind you, that will literally take *anything* in their borders. Chines toxic drywall? Accepted. Chinese toxic dog food? Accepted. Toxic kids jewelry? Accepted. Toxic toys laced with lead? Accepted. Plywood and particle board made with toxic glues? Accepted. The EU is being killed because they will stand up to corporations and block their junk poisoning people, but the good old USA will take everything, until it starts killing people and pets, and only after the number hits some magical level.

One could say that the free market isn't free. It involves lowering, or even removing the minimum wage. It involves removing, or lowering, the age where children can be put to work. It involves denying workers their overtime rights. It involves removing the eight-hour day and five day a week work rules. It involves driving the living standard of the lower and middle classes to the level of the Vietnam, or Korean, Bangladesh, or Chinese worker. It involves bringing back debters prisons, and allowing 'company stores' to literally own people. Like China, having 'worker camps' where they are paid a stipend to live in the companies barracks, and if they are fired, have to pay that money back.

America, and the UK were like that not all that long ago. People realized that human dignity meant something. That human beings were not farm animals, they were not pieces of equipment to be bought or sold.

Henry Ford realized that paying his employees a living wage meant they could afford to buy his cars. Their cars. The car they very well worked on themselves. We have people working already in this country that can't afford to EAT let alone shop at the places they work. And healthcare was a pipe dream, until the ACA was passed.

The free market is a cop-out An excuse to bring the living standard of the clear majority of American citizens to the level of dirt poor people living in a communist country.

It should be a disgrace, but it keeps the shareholders happy, and they can buy more politicians to rain more hell down on the vast majority of the citizens of this once great country.

A public company and its leaders are accountable to the shareholders - their objective is to produce an acceptable return on a shareholder's investment. Everything else is just a bunch of hooey.

The reason products are built in places like in China is not because corporations are evil. Its because consumers are full of poo. They talk about the evils of moving manufacturing oversees. The evils of foreign made products. Of losing jobs. And yet, how many people in the US will select US made products over foreign made products (and pay the corresponding premium in price)?

The free market is not evil. People vote with their dollars. And the way people voted, they are telling us that foreign made products that cost less are preferable to US made products. All the free market did is it gave the consumer a mechanism to vote with their dollars.

 

[Larry-K]

Accept the fact that Trump is making America great again. It is slowly happening right now.

That's your premise, now produce some facts to support it.
[doublepost=1481525016][/doublepost]

Maybe Trump will eat Tim Cook alive. That way Apple can move on and hire a good CEO, one who will release a freaking updated Mac Pro already.

Maybe Tim will be persuaded to bring out a Coal Burning MacPro to placate the new Emperor.

 

[Les Kern]

Tim, please spit on him.

 

[Larry-K]

Tim, please spit on him.

Why waste perfectly good spit?