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The people complaining on Twitter that foreign cheap labour is being used are writing on devices that were produced by that same labour. Those very same people

The people complaining on Twitter that foreign cheap labour is being used are writing on devices that were produced by that same labour. Those very same people are the ones that are demanding that we bring those labour back but unwilling to brunt the cost that companies will then pass on to those same customer. It's not a strawman its the reality of Western society, whatever feels wrong is totally and completely detached from any logic or intellectual discussion about why the reality they feel like they are entitled to is at conflict with their own contradictory desires. It is virtue signaling, largely to placate and pat themselves on the back to deflect blame from them, that their consumption, their vote with their money, and unwillingness to pay the true cost, is what creates this situation.

erichocean 4y ago
> but unwilling to brunt the cost that companies will then pass on to those same customer HUGE "citation needed" here. Apple did a study years ago (when Obama was President) and the cost to manufacture iPhones in the US was well under 10% of the total cost, by their own calculations. The cost of labor in China has only gotten worse since then (hence the move to Vietnam in the OP).
- upupandup 4y ago
  > years ago No longer the case obviously but more importantly, Apple studied themselves and found they were only saving 10% in costs? This makes no sense lol
  - lancesells 4y ago
    10% is many billions every three months. I don't think it's wise or ethical to manufacture in countries that have human rights violations but there's nothing ethical about a corporation.
    - sneak 4y ago
      Where do you propose that Apple move their Texas plant then? (The US, like China, also runs concentration camps. As far as I can tell there is no country on Earth that uniformly preserves human rights.)
  - dirtyid 4y ago
    That quip was over cost of labour specifically. The broader point was US no longer had the manufacturing base or expertise pool to manufacture advanced Apple products at scale or timelines of modern release cycles at all, i.e. Cooks observation that PRC had enough tooling engineers to fill multiple stadiums vs US a room. The entire point was that cheap labour wasn't what was keeping Apple in manufacturing in PRC.

erichocean 4y ago

> but unwilling to brunt the cost that companies will then pass on to those same customer HUGE "citation needed" here. Apple did a study years ago (when Obama was President) and the cost to manufacture iPhones in the US was well under 10% of the total cost, by their own calculations. The cost of labor in China has only gotten worse since then (hence the move to Vietnam in the OP).

upupandup 4y ago
> years ago No longer the case obviously but more importantly, Apple studied themselves and found they were only saving 10% in costs? This makes no sense lol
- lancesells 4y ago
  10% is many billions every three months. I don't think it's wise or ethical to manufacture in countries that have human rights violations but there's nothing ethical about a corporation.
  - sneak 4y ago
    Where do you propose that Apple move their Texas plant then? (The US, like China, also runs concentration camps. As far as I can tell there is no country on Earth that uniformly preserves human rights.)
- dirtyid 4y ago
  That quip was over cost of labour specifically. The broader point was US no longer had the manufacturing base or expertise pool to manufacture advanced Apple products at scale or timelines of modern release cycles at all, i.e. Cooks observation that PRC had enough tooling engineers to fill multiple stadiums vs US a room. The entire point was that cheap labour wasn't what was keeping Apple in manufacturing in PRC.