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> ... seeking to merge with other democratic nations (Australia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan). That presumes that other countries want to be part of America. I suspec

> ... seeking to merge with other democratic nations (Australia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan). That presumes that other countries want to be part of America. I suspect strongly you'll find that's not the case. Merger then has a more "1812" feeling to it. The only folks tripping over their shoelaces to be US states are Puerto Rico and DC. > America needs to onshore manufacturing of critical chemicals and components. Steel. Electronics. While these are strategically sensible decisions, that won't bring back Apple any time soon. Everyone manufactures in China because there's a critical mass of manufacturing in China. All your components are made there, by everyone, and the best-in-class assembly folks are all there. Supply chain and logistics are all there. China's investments in ports, roads, railways are paying dividends. Including their one belt one road initiative offering overland rail links to the UK. It's not sufficient to just say "let's make stuff at home" - it requires real, long-term, strategic thinking, huge investments and optimizing for the group. These are not America's strengths right now.

mullingitover 5y ago
> That presumes that other countries want to be part of America. I feel like if there was a referendum, the UK's population would happily dump their monarchy in exchange for US statehood. There's a lot of commonality with their democracy, language, skepticism of foreign immigration, embrace of capitalism, etc. It would also be a pretty solid strategic move to bring the US closer to Europe as a hedge against the Russian ambitions laid out in their Foundations of Geopolitics playbook.
- makapuf 5y ago
  UK dumped EU, which didn't asked for country dissolution, not sure it would agree to join USA...
  - mullingitover 5y ago
    UK voters (imho) were still stinging from the economic decline and austerity measures post-2008, and were led to believe that a divorce from the EU would restore their greatness. Now that that's been demonstrated to be a delusion, and with covid-related economic collapse piling on top of Brexit consequences, UK voters might be open to a dice roll. This is obviously my idle speculation, and I think the UK voters would never be allowed to vote on such an opportunity anyway. Still, I think if it happened it'd be great for everyone.
- phist_mcgee 5y ago
  I think you misjudge how much the Anglophone world looks down on America, and Americans in general. We take great pride in Australia of our differences from that place. We're much more similar to the British (and them to us) than to the Americans.
  - 908B64B197 5y ago
    ... And yet there's a net brain drain to the US.
    - sangnoir 5y ago
      1 in 3 people resident in Australia is an immigrant. I don't think Australia is losing the immigration game, all things considered.
      - 908B64B197 5y ago
        The problem is, it's not a numbers game: quality matters a lot. Importing massive amounts of unskilled labor only depresses wages and, combined with NIMBY, creates a massive housing bubble thanks to artificial shortages. In Australia's case, it also suffers from a disproportionate brain drain of highly educated professionals since local firms simply won't compete for talent.
        arcticbull 5y ago
        When you're discussing merging nations, it is in fact a numbers game.
        sangnoir 5y ago
        I hope you're not suggesting that Australia is getting low-quality immigrants. Unlike the US, Australia has a points-based immigration system where you have to meet specific, standardized criteria, which IMO is more objective than the US process. I don't know what guidance State Department staffers follow when determining who gets a visa, but the process is more opaque, and I suspect more subjective. edit: I think the "quality" argument is overrated. Not all immigrants do ground-breaking research or start billion-dollar companies. When it comes to economic activity, quantity has a quality of its own (apologies to J. Stalin). A city/state/country with the economic activity of an extra 20% population of mediocre, healthy, tax-paying, car-buying, mortgage-paying, burger-eating blue and white-collar immigrants is better off than one without.
vdqtp3 5y ago
> tripping over their shoelaces to be US states are Puerto Rico That's inaccurate, repeated votes for statehood in PR have failed.
- nradov 5y ago
  No representation without taxation. PR residents don't have to pay US federal income tax, and most of them aren't willing to pay that price to get the political benefits of statehood.
- colinmhayes 5y ago
  Failed is a misrepresentation. They haven't been overwhelming victories, but the majority of voters voted to become a state in the most recent vote.
908B64B197 5y ago
> I suspect strongly you'll find that's not the case. Merger then has a more "1812" feeling to it. Ironically, the hardest challenge for the British during the war was to keep their soldiers from deserting to the US. Since there was no way a young British male could legally come to America from the UK, joining the army then crossing into America was their only hope. Ironically today, the countries named by the GP (Australia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan) all have a net inflow of people to trying to get into the US, mirroring what happened in 1812. The political elites might laugh at the idea of a merger (considering they have a vested interest in keeping power) but it seems to make sense for a lot of their highly educated citizens who decided to make it happen here in America!
- arcticbull 5y ago
  > ... but it seems to make sense for a lot of their highly educated citizens who decided to make it happen here in America! That's not the same thing as wanting to abandon independence. Folks go to work in other countries not because they want their home country to be America. Those smart highly-educated workers aren't moving to America so much as the Bay Area to work at tech companies and make money - based on my personal experience and that of every other immigrant I know. Even those that went on to become US citizens wouldn't begin to entertain the idea of folding in their home countries. I've lived in America for years but I certainly have zero interest in "merging" in Canada. I couldn't want anything less, tbh. They're both unique and interesting countries in their own rights, with quite different peoples and values.
  - 908B64B197 5y ago
    It's interesting that the narrative is that when people move to Canada, it's because they have a deep desire of becoming Canadian, and according to the current administration deserve it even more than the folks who built the country [0], but when it's people coming to the US it's simply for higher pay and not because they want to make America their home. Meanwhile, there are now universities where 85% of the graduating class immediately moves to the US upon graduation [1]. And the numbers have actually increased during the Trump administration, despite the narrative that the US would stop attracting international talent. [0] https://globalnews.ca/news/3567893/justin-trudeau-jealous-immigrants-ctv-interview/ https://globalnews.ca/news/3567893/justin-trudeau-jealous-im... [1] https://twitter.com/danluu/status/1351785083598893062 https://twitter.com/danluu/status/1351785083598893062
WoodenChair 5y ago
> All your components are made there, by everyone, and the best-in-class assembly folks are all there. Supply chain and logistics are all there. The first part of this statement is inaccurate and the second part is accurate. No, all of the components in your iPhone are not made in China. Yes, they have the logistics and capability to assemble efficiently. No, they do not make everything in an iPhone or Mac—not even close. Examples of major components often not made in China: - Microprocessor (Taiwan) - Memory (South Korea) - Screen glass (USA) - Audio, Wifi Chips (USA) - Gyroscope (Switzerland) - Accelerometer (Germany) - Display (Japan) - Camera (Japan) The batteries tend to be made in China, but many of the raw materials that go into the batteries are not. Also, Apple has successfully had iPhones assembled in India, so there's no reason to believe if they chose to, they couldn't (at very significant cost and ramping up and effort) move assembly. iPhone prices might go up then though. See more here: https://www.lifewire.com/where-is-the-iphone-made-1999503 https://www.lifewire.com/where-is-the-iphone-made-1999503 Or checkout the book The One Device https://amzn.to/3pDolNW https://amzn.to/3pDolNW
vineyardmike 5y ago
I suspect apple manufactures in china at least partially because china requires it to access their market.

mullingitover 5y ago

> That presumes that other countries want to be part of America. I feel like if there was a referendum, the UK's population would happily dump their monarchy in exchange for US statehood. There's a lot of commonality with their democracy, language, skepticism of foreign immigration, embrace of capitalism, etc. It would also be a pretty solid strategic move to bring the US closer to Europe as a hedge against the Russian ambitions laid out in their Foundations of Geopolitics playbook.

makapuf 5y ago
UK dumped EU, which didn't asked for country dissolution, not sure it would agree to join USA...
- mullingitover 5y ago
  UK voters (imho) were still stinging from the economic decline and austerity measures post-2008, and were led to believe that a divorce from the EU would restore their greatness. Now that that's been demonstrated to be a delusion, and with covid-related economic collapse piling on top of Brexit consequences, UK voters might be open to a dice roll. This is obviously my idle speculation, and I think the UK voters would never be allowed to vote on such an opportunity anyway. Still, I think if it happened it'd be great for everyone.
phist_mcgee 5y ago
I think you misjudge how much the Anglophone world looks down on America, and Americans in general. We take great pride in Australia of our differences from that place. We're much more similar to the British (and them to us) than to the Americans.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  ... And yet there's a net brain drain to the US.
  - sangnoir 5y ago
    1 in 3 people resident in Australia is an immigrant. I don't think Australia is losing the immigration game, all things considered.
    - 908B64B197 5y ago
      The problem is, it's not a numbers game: quality matters a lot. Importing massive amounts of unskilled labor only depresses wages and, combined with NIMBY, creates a massive housing bubble thanks to artificial shortages. In Australia's case, it also suffers from a disproportionate brain drain of highly educated professionals since local firms simply won't compete for talent.
      - arcticbull 5y ago
        When you're discussing merging nations, it is in fact a numbers game.
      - sangnoir 5y ago
        I hope you're not suggesting that Australia is getting low-quality immigrants. Unlike the US, Australia has a points-based immigration system where you have to meet specific, standardized criteria, which IMO is more objective than the US process. I don't know what guidance State Department staffers follow when determining who gets a visa, but the process is more opaque, and I suspect more subjective. edit: I think the "quality" argument is overrated. Not all immigrants do ground-breaking research or start billion-dollar companies. When it comes to economic activity, quantity has a quality of its own (apologies to J. Stalin). A city/state/country with the economic activity of an extra 20% population of mediocre, healthy, tax-paying, car-buying, mortgage-paying, burger-eating blue and white-collar immigrants is better off than one without.

vdqtp3 5y ago

> tripping over their shoelaces to be US states are Puerto Rico That's inaccurate, repeated votes for statehood in PR have failed.

nradov 5y ago
No representation without taxation. PR residents don't have to pay US federal income tax, and most of them aren't willing to pay that price to get the political benefits of statehood.
colinmhayes 5y ago
Failed is a misrepresentation. They haven't been overwhelming victories, but the majority of voters voted to become a state in the most recent vote.

908B64B197 5y ago

> I suspect strongly you'll find that's not the case. Merger then has a more "1812" feeling to it. Ironically, the hardest challenge for the British during the war was to keep their soldiers from deserting to the US. Since there was no way a young British male could legally come to America from the UK, joining the army then crossing into America was their only hope. Ironically today, the countries named by the GP (Australia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan) all have a net inflow of people to trying to get into the US, mirroring what happened in 1812. The political elites might laugh at the idea of a merger (considering they have a vested interest in keeping power) but it seems to make sense for a lot of their highly educated citizens who decided to make it happen here in America!

arcticbull 5y ago
> ... but it seems to make sense for a lot of their highly educated citizens who decided to make it happen here in America! That's not the same thing as wanting to abandon independence. Folks go to work in other countries not because they want their home country to be America. Those smart highly-educated workers aren't moving to America so much as the Bay Area to work at tech companies and make money - based on my personal experience and that of every other immigrant I know. Even those that went on to become US citizens wouldn't begin to entertain the idea of folding in their home countries. I've lived in America for years but I certainly have zero interest in "merging" in Canada. I couldn't want anything less, tbh. They're both unique and interesting countries in their own rights, with quite different peoples and values.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  It's interesting that the narrative is that when people move to Canada, it's because they have a deep desire of becoming Canadian, and according to the current administration deserve it even more than the folks who built the country [0], but when it's people coming to the US it's simply for higher pay and not because they want to make America their home. Meanwhile, there are now universities where 85% of the graduating class immediately moves to the US upon graduation [1]. And the numbers have actually increased during the Trump administration, despite the narrative that the US would stop attracting international talent. [0] https://globalnews.ca/news/3567893/justin-trudeau-jealous-immigrants-ctv-interview/ https://globalnews.ca/news/3567893/justin-trudeau-jealous-im... [1] https://twitter.com/danluu/status/1351785083598893062 https://twitter.com/danluu/status/1351785083598893062

WoodenChair 5y ago

> All your components are made there, by everyone, and the best-in-class assembly folks are all there. Supply chain and logistics are all there. The first part of this statement is inaccurate and the second part is accurate. No, all of the components in your iPhone are not made in China. Yes, they have the logistics and capability to assemble efficiently. No, they do not make everything in an iPhone or Mac—not even close. Examples of major components often not made in China: - Microprocessor (Taiwan) - Memory (South Korea) - Screen glass (USA) - Audio, Wifi Chips (USA) - Gyroscope (Switzerland) - Accelerometer (Germany) - Display (Japan) - Camera (Japan) The batteries tend to be made in China, but many of the raw materials that go into the batteries are not. Also, Apple has successfully had iPhones assembled in India, so there's no reason to believe if they chose to, they couldn't (at very significant cost and ramping up and effort) move assembly. iPhone prices might go up then though. See more here: https://www.lifewire.com/where-is-the-iphone-made-1999503 https://www.lifewire.com/where-is-the-iphone-made-1999503 Or checkout the book The One Device https://amzn.to/3pDolNW https://amzn.to/3pDolNW

vineyardmike 5y ago

I suspect apple manufactures in china at least partially because china requires it to access their market.