Quote:
Originally Posted by QuadCityImages
You know what Apple could do to generate a ridiculous amount of goodwill in the US? Take 1 of the 100 Billion in cash they have laying around, and build a technical school in Michigan to train out of work folks on iProduct assembly, and take 9 more billion and build the most high tech factory in the world. Then move Apple production to America. They can afford it like almost no other company, and it would impress even Apple haters like myself. This would really be the ultimate response to the whole "crappy conditions are good compared to the rest of the country we use to make our stuff" thing.
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I would applaud the hell out of the move, but it just seems unlikely. You can either spend 10 billion dollars and make the workers, people who generally think apple is evil, and a segment of the apple community happy, or you can spend 10 billion dollars and make a huge acquisition or create an awesome product and make people who throw money at you happy. For the shareholders there is only one option.
There would be incredible benefits to doing it. Shipping times would be almost impossible to beat and it would create thousands of American jobs. I think it's almost 100% unlikely though because Apple's direct competitors (samsung, amazon, motorola) would continue producing their goods at slave wages. From the cold financial point of view, it makes almost zero sense for Apple.
Lastly, Apple pulling out of China and coming stateside could be devastating for the people who would be out of work in China. While the conditions are poor, there are still more people who want the jobs than those who have them. Leaving China would just add to the high number of people who need work.