Posted on 04/23/2026 5:16:03 AM PDT by Cronos
Tim Cook is ending his illustrious stint as chief executive of Apple. The soft-spoken operator accomplished the near impossible, filling the shoes of the visionary co-founder Steve Jobs, turning the iPhone from a cultural phenomenon into a financial juggernaut and transforming his company into a $4 trillion goliath — growing its market value by $682 million per day, on average, for 15 years. By the metrics investors care about, Mr. Cook is nothing short of a rock star.
But when one considers his role in the sweep of American history, his legacy grows more complicated, for much of Apple’s success is due to his move to consolidate virtually all of his company’s manufacturing in China.
Year after year, Mr. Cook removed microrisks from Apple’s business and made its financials smoother and more predictable. But at the same time, he proved blind to a macrorisk, moving the vast bulk of Apple’s operations to China just as the authoritarian country was turning into America’s fiercest adversary.
Based on my research, I am convinced that no company has done more to enable President Xi. Since 2008, Apple has worked with suppliers to train 30 million workers, principally in China. It has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in the mainland and facilitated an epic transfer of practical knowledge in how to make things to hundreds of Chinese factories
Mr. Cook’s decision to consolidate Apple’s operations into China fits that mold: Every decision to deepen his footprint in the country made sense at the time.
Those decisions also made Apple and its investors enormous sums of money. But stock prices don’t reflect the costs to our economy and our own gutted industries.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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NYTimes wrote this?!
Good for the NYT!
It’s hard to blame Apple for some of these decisions. There was an article posted here years ago in the early days of the iPhone about manufacturing processes and sourcing. If I remember correctly, Apple originally wanted the iPhone screens to be produced by Corning, Inc. in upstate New York. But they were told that the permitting process for a new facility would take two years. The company opted to produce them in China because they were able to get the same process done in a matter of weeks.
A Freeper who uses the term Free Traitors™ is not an American at heart
A Freeper who uses the term Free Traitors™ is not an American at heart
LOL. Patriots call a spade a spade. Free Traitors™ As a Free Traitor yourself, what do you think about this piece?
What profit a man, if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul.
Fixed it.
Trump said nice things about him. Anyone know why?
eg: Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Iscariot
Actually, I didn’t even have to notice anything … because posting silly rants instead of intelligent points of information is all you do here anyway.
the retreat to patriotism is the last resort for scoundrels
I was screaming about this problem in the 1980s.
Those decisions also made Apple and its investors enormous sums of money. But stock prices don’t reflect the costs to our economy and our own gutted industries.
It's worse than that. These same "investors" either sat on their satisfied behinds or openly abetted the environmental regulations that killed American manufacturing competitiveness and social morays that destroyed our schools and embedded strife that wrecked our families. America sank while they laughed to the bank.
The only goal of corporate leadership is to legally maximize profits for its shareholders (at least that's what the goal should be).
I was also surprised by this - NYT isn't exactly known for criticizing outsourcing. Of course, it didn't take the additional step of recognizing the other way by which Big Tech hurts Americans - they don't just disenfranchise Americans by outsourcing, but also by insourcing cheaper H-1B workers.
I think it’s too late now to “course correct”.
Most likely (and I;m just spit-balling here), apple would die off in a decade like Nokia did - they have no new must-have product and haven’t for years.
The end when it comes will be sudden and everyone will wonder what happened to them
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