The biggest problem is that so much of our manufacturing has left the country. In China, those who work on Apple iPhones and the like are paid a fraction of what a US worker would get. If the products were made here, they would cost several times as much as they do now. I’m not making any value judgments here, just stating economic facts. US workers are very highly paid, relative to third world workers, and our safety and other regulatory oversight adds even more to the cost of manufacturing here. So jobs go elsewhere and unemployment here soars.
Not true. The situation you describe is way more complex than that. When you buy an I-Phone( or any durable good for that matter ) you pay for management, advertising, materials, engineering, transportation, packaging, design, testing and labor. If you buy it at a place like Sprint you are also paying for overhead. So what you are really saying is the labor component that I pay may cost twice as much but overall, the retail price increase will marginal based on the amount labor represents of the retail price which is typicality less that 10%.
Fixed.
The huge costs of state and local taxes should be a major factor.
Why did Carrier shut its factories in Syracuse, New York?
High income taxes. High property taxes. High nuisance taxes.
Minimum wage.
A price control (minimum!) that is fascist and needs to be deleted.
Unions.
Communist ideals on a small scale, but driving everything else, that need to be completely deleted.