Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas. Why canât that work come home? Mr. Obama asked. Mr. Jobsâs reply was unambiguous. âThose jobs arenât coming back,â he said, according to another dinner guest. The presidentâs question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isnât just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Appleâs executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that âMade in the U.S.A.â is no longer a viable option for most Apple products. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=1
âCompanies once felt an obligation to support American workers, even when it wasnât the best financial choice,â said Betsey Stevenson, the chief economist at the Labor Department ---------------------- Growing up in Detroit I watched it happen before my eyes when the big 3 parking lots were filled with Toyotas.That pissed off the old timers.That was the end of loyalty between employees and companies. You knew who worked where by what they drove. If you gripe about the junk that was produced by the big 3 well they paid you well enough to have them repaired, what did people do, buy Japanese. ------------ One more thing.. Obama said in his SOTU address we ain;t going back, meaning no roll back in regs, etc to make it any easier to do business in the country.