Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro calls it "inconceivable" that Apple can't produce iPhones outside China

[SRB]

Wtf is it with all these noob posts in history and economics.

1. Sweat shop workers ain't happening in America again

2. You can't reverse globalisation faster than a nuns first curry... So get your head out of your arse and stop thinking you can manufacture an iPhone and all it's components in 1x place. - and if you wanna understand this better read and learn about electronic components instead of posting bullsh$$!

3. You wanna bring manufacturing back to the US like they wanna bring back to OZ - stop foreign ownership of companies! Make better product than what is imported. Don't start with complex products until you have manufactured simple products. That's it. Simples!

Eg. Simple+Simple+Simple+Simple=Complex!

According to your Econ 101 class, the ultimate goal of reducing costs and maximizing shareholder value is to outsource all production to Communist and or Dictatorship countries, since their cost of labor will always provide the lowest costs of production, and let the the US and Europe finish their shift to a 100% service economy.

Like socialism, where everyone works and everyone shares equally in the bounty, you get the maximum equitable distribution of goods and services.

The only small problem with Econ 101 theories comes from Psycology 101. The human vices of greed and envy negatively affect distribution of wealth, and the lack of a reward motivation affects production.

Note: While still affected on the production side, the Communist and Dictatorship models can minimize loss of production through negative reinforcement. While these same forms of government usually have a small group of leaders/decision makers that also control distribution to positively or negatively create motivation.

Bonus questions: When the shift of manufacturing and services is complete, and the service economies no longer produce anything, what mechanism in this system maintains the established balance of value between goods and services? (Hint: Which group can live without the other, the producers or the service providers?)

Footnote: Emerging economies are discussed in Econ 201, but for the purposes of this discussion, the skill set is low and limits what can be produced. And once they emerge, the then join world economy and fold into one of the two camps.

 

[abdn999]

Well they figured out how to make them in India, so why is it impossible in America? The poor multi trillion dollar corpo can't figure out how to source screws without slave labor?

You answered your own question. Apple will prefer their consumers to pay 25% tariffs any day than doubling or tripling their prices. But is not just the manufacturing, is also the chains of supply. And the huge cost of building high tech mega-factories and industrial corridors from scratch. And let´s say they do that.. it will be mostly automated in order to be cost effective, so those jobs will never materialize...

 

[AnilD]

People underestimate how complex Apple's supply chain probably is. It's not just about moving factories... it's about replicating an entire manufacturing ecosystem that took decades to build. No amount of political pressure can fast-track that.

Final assembly in the US might be the most realistic middle ground. It gives Apple some political cover without completely disrupting the logistics and supplier relationships that make current iPhones possible at scale.

 

[maxxcool7421]

Just like the now DEAD tRUMP phone, republicans do not know how a global economy works, nor understand US only costs for manufacturing anything...

 

[Northy]

"And my problem with Tim Cook is he never takes the steps to actually do that."

Haha... he only has to put it off another 3ish years and he can stop pretending to do it.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Decades of liberalism has robbed the West of its technical edge.

It was capitalism that pushed all manufacturing overseas. Make more margin using cheap labor.

 

[Darth Shiv]

People underestimate how complex Apple's supply chain probably is. It's not just about moving factories... it's about replicating an entire manufacturing ecosystem that took decades to build. No amount of political pressure can fast-track that.

Final assembly in the US might be the most realistic middle ground. It gives Apple some political cover without completely disrupting the logistics and supplier relationships that make current iPhones possible at scale.

Yes apparently Apple has been spending around $50 BILLION per year for many years IN CHINA building their supply chain components. And just to be clear moving such an operation back to the US would take a LOT more.

 

[mbk34]

It's not the idiocy, the blatant bribery or the chaotic stream of commands that gets me ... it's the use of double negatives. Grrrrr!

 

[kaosken]

It has noting to do with where. It is all about the hands of the who.
IMO the key to assembling cell phone hardware is the dexterity of the assembler. Part of that equation is the size of the hands. Asians, especially Asian women have small hands. I think Indian people have small hands, too.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

It was capitalism that pushed all manufacturing overseas. Make more margin using cheap labor.

It was capitalism that made domestic manufacturing so expensive it went overseas?

 

[Ben Myers]

Navarro and Lutnick are talking through their backsides. They are utterly clueless about electronics, manufacturing and logistics, just like the leader.

 

[Ben Myers]

It was capitalism that made domestic manufacturing so expensive it went overseas?

Not exactly. They looked at the cost of manufacturing here and cost of manufacturing there, and there won out, including the cost of shipping from there to here. A neighbor of mine was part of the Digital Equipment team that set up maanufacturing in China back in the '90s.

And don't forget that Tricky Dicky's right hand man, Henry the K, went to China back in the '70 to discuss with Chinese leaders the possibility of doing trade between the US and China. Prior to that, China was a very closed country to foreign business.

 

[Xelions]

According to your Econ 101 class, the ultimate goal of reducing costs and maximizing shareholder value is to outsource all production to Communist and or Dictatorship countries, since their cost of labor will always provide the lowest costs of production, and let the the US and Europe finish their shift to a 100% service economy....

I haven't ruled out assembly in the US.a but you can't think that your gonna manufacture micro electronic components like, resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc in quantities and have machines that put them all together alongside a skilled workforce of working within an assembly line in 12x months. Your expectations sound like a fairytale life = not happening!

I don't believe in shareholders first remem. I'm pro customers/employees. Shareholders are actually 4th. The company is 3rd. If you think about the importance of each you'll find that without customers you can't have employees and with out employees you can't have a business. Generally speaking investors want returns but investment has always been a risk and people will always invest - except of late where every f#$ker thinks they're entitled to a gracious return.

 

[Ben Myers]

I haven't ruled out assembly in the US.a but you can't think that your gonna manufacture micro electronic components like, resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc in quantities and have machines that put them all together alongside a skilled workforce of working within an assembly line in 12x months. Your expectations sound like a fairytale life = not happening!

I don't believe in shareholders first remem. I'm pro customers/employees. Shareholders are actually 4th. The company is 3rd. If you think about the importance of each you'll find that without customers you can't have employees and with out employees you can't have a business. Generally speaking investors want returns but investment has always been a risk and people will always invest - except of late where every f#$ker thinks they're entitled to a gracious return.

The complexity of establishing manufacturing and supply chain for COMPLETE manufacturing in the US, with zero items manufactured elsewhere, is absolutely mind-boggling for anyone to understand, not to mention featherweights Navarro and Lutnick. Impossible. US manufacturing by Apple would need a supply chain including components made elsewhere. This would not bode well for the reliability of the first Apple items rolling off the assembly line.

 

[Darth Shiv]

It was capitalism that made domestic manufacturing so expensive it went overseas?

It wasn't so expensive it went overseas. They took advantage of extremely cheap labor and poor worker conditions overseas to build supply chains there. If there were worker standards from day dot like Apple was held accountable for conditions they setup their supply chains in China with, then the benefit moving overseas wouldn't have been so large.

Companies moved manufacturing overseas to make much greater profits. There has been an enormous amount of investment in these supply chains now. You can't just turn them on a dime. It doesn't work like that. Govt cycles as well are very short term. Trying to change this in a single term is just not realistic. Consumers will haemorrage from the cost implications of all this disruption.