Apple CEO Tim Cook Shares His Experience Of Working With President Donald Trump (bloomberg.com) 350
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about his experience of working with Donald Trump. He said: I feel a great responsibility as an American, as a CEO, to try to influence things in areas where we have a level of expertise. I've pushed hard on immigration. We clearly have a very different view on things in that area. I've pushed on climate. We have a different view there. There are clearly areas where we're not nearly on the same page. We're dramatically different. I hope there's some areas where we're not. His focus on jobs is good. So we'll see. Pulling out of the Paris climate accord was very disappointing. I felt a responsibility to do every single thing I could for it not to happen. I think it's the wrong decision. If I see another opening on the Paris thing, I'm going to bring it up again. At the end of the day, I'm not a person who's going to walk away and say, "If you don't do what I want, I leave." I'm not on a council, so I don't have those kind of decisions. But I care deeply about America. I want America to do well. America's more important than bloody politics from my point of view. Let me give you an example of this. Veterans Affairs has struggled in providing health care to veterans. We have an expertise in some of the things at the base level that they're struggling with. So we're going to work with them. I could give a crap about the politics of it. I want to help veterans. My dad's a veteran. My brother served. We have so many military folks in Apple. These folks deserve great health care. So we're going to keep helping.
Apple sitting on billions and tax evader (Score:3, Insightful)
Worthy sentiment (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish there were more people with the attitude that they want to do what they can to fix what problems they can, and that far too many people do instead say, "If you don't do what I want, I leave."
I'm sorry you don't like Cook as a person, or Apple as a company. Nevertheless, this is a worthy sentiment that is worth emulating.
Sentiment is worthless. Action matters. (Score:5, Informative)
Although the article here seems tailor made to bring out both the political flames as well as the Apple-bashing flames, I would like to say that I admire this attitude.
Talk is cheap. I judge a man by his actions. Tim Cook talks a good game about caring about the country but he does everything in his power to have his company avoid paying taxes to support it. Apple has billions in cash on their balance sheet which could be invested in ways that would create jobs. Instead they simply sit like Smaug on their pile of gold and do nothing that would create jobs or drive the economy forward. Apple has outsourced nearly all of their manufacturing to China, even stuff that might not actually have to be outsourced. Tim Cook I'm sure has many wonderful qualities but on the stuff he's talking about here he is nothing but a do-nothing hypocrite. Few companies are as well resourced to help change the world as Apple but sadly Apple and Cook are doing little with that opportunity.
I wish there were more people with the attitude that they want to do what they can to fix what problems they can, and that far too many people do instead say, "If you don't do what I want, I leave."
So do I. What's more I think rich powerful men like Tim Cook should be leading the charge instead of hoping others do it for them. Elon Musk is a FAR better example of someone trying to actually improve the world than Tim Cook is.
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The have billions of dollars (in foreign currency). However, it is doubtful that these money can be used to create jobs. Jobs are necessary to do things. For example produce iPhones. And you need more workers when you want to produce more iPhones. However, you only need to produce more iPhones when people are buying more iPhones. Furthermore, as a company leader it is his job to make as much money for the owners as possible. If he can avoid paying taxes than this is the fault of politicians. They should hav
Investments create jobs (Score:3)
The have billions of dollars (in foreign currency). However, it is doubtful that these money can be used to create jobs
Baloney. If they do pretty much anything economically useful beyond simply gathering interest from securities, jobs will be created. But as long as they keep that pile of money sitting in the figurative bank no jobs of any kind will be created. There is no task you can do that involves billions of dollars that will not create meaningful numbers of jobs. But they have to actually try to do something first. Apple hasn't taken a significant risk since the iPhone was released. It's just been incremental i
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The have billions of dollars (in foreign currency). However, it is doubtful that these money can be used to create jobs
Baloney. If they do pretty much anything economically useful beyond simply gathering interest from securities, jobs will be created. But as long as they keep that pile of money sitting in the figurative bank no jobs of any kind will be created. There is no task you can do that involves billions of dollars that will not create meaningful numbers of jobs. But they have to actually try to do something first. Apple hasn't taken a significant risk since the iPhone was released. It's just been incremental improvements and variations on existing technology for the most part.
I doubt this. It's the typical "trickle down" argument but data doesn't correlate. We've just come off 8+ years of unencumbered injection of capital into the markets. There's never been so much free money showered into the investment pool at ridiculously low interest rates. Yet job creation, while happening, hasn't exactly exploded.
In fact, there's nothing stopping Apple from "using" that money overseas. Just like with the stock buyback, they could take out a ridiculously cheap loan (which they have, to the
Re:Sentiment is worthless. Action matters. (Score:4, Insightful)
Few companies are as well resourced to help change the world as Apple but sadly Apple and Cook are doing little with that opportunity.
Sadly, our capitalist system is ill-suited to the kind of altruistic effort you describe. Fiduciary responsibility prevents most corporations from taking risks for the common good.
I have what I call the Elon Musk Rule for Billionaires: If you're doing even 1/10th of the public good as Elon does, then you deserve your billions. But if you're just another hedge-funder, sitting on your Smaug hoard, then you -- or rather the fact that you are a billionaire -- is not doing any good for the rest of us. Furthermore, the fact that you are keeping all that coin in your hoard, and out of circulation, is in fact a detriment to the rest of us. You are nothing more than a blood-sucking parasite with a fancy suit and a Ferrari.
It's worth noting that both SpaceX and Tesla were started as private companies (and SpaceX is still private) precisely because Elon knew he could never get away with such risky behavior as a public corporation.
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Apple has billions in cash on their balance sheet which could be invested in ways that would create jobs
You mean like cloning Steve Jobs? I dunno if Cook would be interested in that.
On a more serious note, can we stop pretending that doing everything we can to create jobs is the ultimate good any patriotic american can strive for? Climate change and experimenting with how much the administration can bend the constitution are far more important than making busy work for a few hundred more engineers. He's not a hypocrite, he just doesn't think "jobsjobsjobsjobsjobs" is the ultimate priority. And as someone w
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The danger here is that his presence on a council could be interpreted as tacit approval of what is happening. I believe this is the reason Elon Musk left the council. He started out saying he was accepting a seat on the council because it was better to be involved and have influence than to let the president surround himself with yes-men and crooks. But at the end of the day I believe Elon saw that his presence there served only to legitimize Trump's actions, so he left. Why exactly is Tim Cook still t
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He's not on the council.
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The danger here is that his presence on a council could be interpreted as tacit approval of what is happening. I believe this is the reason Elon Musk left the council. He started out saying he was accepting a seat on the council because it was better to be involved and have influence than to let the president surround himself with yes-men and crooks. But at the end of the day I believe Elon saw that his presence there served only to legitimize Trump's actions, so he left. Why exactly is Tim Cook still there?
For exactly the reason you just stated: "because it was better to be involved and have influence than to let the president surround himself with yes-men and crooks."
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But eventually voicing your opinion and being ignored, but also being a showpiece associate of the president eventually makes you a yes-man, regardless of the words coming out of your mouth.
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You think they're soldering RAM directly on motherboards just for fun? It's because they can't even afford SODIMM sockets!
Re:Apple sitting on billions and tax evader (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's because Apple's preferred upgrade path is that you need to buy a whole new computer.
Re:Apple sitting on billions and tax evader (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's a really green thing to do.
If by "green" they mean money instead of the environment.
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Help Americans, sure you do Timmy.
Get real. The millisecond an Apple CEO restructures the company so they start paying a reasonable tax rate the board will vote him or her out. As long as it is legal, corporations--and especially megacorps--will keep doing it.
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Exactly. Billions of dollars just tied up in that company. That's billions less for us in the (lower/upper) middle (poverty) classes to fight over.
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They hire a lot of Americans....
Actually most of Apple's staff is in the US IIRC.
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Yes, he's openly gay, your point being?
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Maybe he was saying "gay" as in "happy".
I'd be happy too if I was in charge of a company with billions in the bank.
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However, some people enjoy putting genitalia in there. If you do not like that. Don't do it, but it is up to the respective person to decide whether they want to do it.
Re:Apple sitting on billions and tax evader (Score:5, Funny)
So? A mouth is not a sexual organ either. Neither are breasts, hands, feets... yet there are sections for those on porn websites. I think those people are sick in the head though. I'd rather hang in the furry futanari tentacle school uniform pregnant section.
Re: Apple sitting on billions and tax evader (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, to be fair, the current administration *IS* working on legislation (hopefully soon) to allow for repatriation of Apple and other companies' tax dollars offshore....at a reasonable rate.
You can't blame a company or an individual for taking every LEGAL tax write off and advantage that is offered to them.
Do you not take every deduction you can? Do you offer to pay more tax than you have to?
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There are serious questions about whether or not what Apple is doing with their overseas funds is legal. The EU has better enforcement and has been after them the clean up their act and pay fines.
I think Apple is pushing the bounds of legality and is certainly corrupt in their behaviour.
As for me, I follow the law and pay the tax that is due. I don't go out of my way to set up dummy foreign corporations to hide my profits (although I have had advisors who recommended I do this).
except they make the rules (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem is that these large companies hire expensive lawyers and lobbyists to make the rules. Apple is also guilty of this. So, this is not a simple case of "oooops, lookey here, i found me a deduction." It is more along the lines of, "I will donate X to your campaign, and you make me a 8x deduction. It is wrong and despicable. Don't forgive companies for doing this.....Especially Apple and Google, who claim to be socially responsible, then hides from paying taxes so less services can be provided. Hypocrites suck. No matter how much they put a good face eon it.
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The problem is that these large companies hire expensive lawyers and lobbyists to make the rules. Apple is also guilty of this.
Here's a list of the top lobbying spenders last year [opensecrets.org]. Notice anyone missing?
While Amazon is at the very bottom of the top spenders and Google is in the thick of it with big telecom and pharma, Apple is conspicuously missing. That's been true historically as well, since Apple has NEVER been a big spender when it comes to lobbying. They're routinely outspent by virtually all of their competitors, and while they have significantly increased their spending in recent years [opensecrets.org] (roughly doubled from 2011 to 2016, bri
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but like anyone else they don't want to be the sucker who pays way more than they have to
When you have 246B USD socked away my compassion goes out the window.
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How big a haircut are you willing to personally so that Apple can do it's civic duty and pay all the taxes on that repatriated capital.
Sure, let's take that to the logical end. Why have any corporate tax law? Why have taxes? They just lower the stock price.
I want to be clear, I'm not some Randian claiming that tax is theft and all that crazy stuff.
I'm claiming that Apple and Google are acting rationally, and put in a similar situation I'd expect most people here to act the same.
The solution is not to say "oh, Apple must be evil now", the solution is to recognize that "oh, Apple is responding to some really strong incentives when it takes all these strategies to reduce its taxes, if we fix those incentives then Apple and a lot of other companies will start pay
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You're a fool.
There are eloquent arguments as to the 'why'; as well as how a cursory stroll down logic lane would point out exactly why it's the case -- but if you don't see it, and honestly believe what you're saying about taxes; it would all be lost on you.
You are a bloody fool.
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You can't blame a company or an individual for taking every LEGAL tax write off and advantage that is offered to them.
Well I can't necessarily blame a CEO for trying to maximize profit, at least inasmuch as he has a legal duty to the shareholders to do so. However, I sure can blame an individual for taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code. Taxes present an interesting ethical problem. We have "paying all the taxes you're supposed to" on one side, and on the other you have "people who are clearly and explicitly breaking the law in evading taxes." And then, yes, there's a sort of spectrum between those two. You ha
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A large group wanted to do that 4 years ago. Now they have changed their minds for some reason.
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You do realize the legislation has to actually be created before it can be voted on, yes? So how's that tax legislation coming? Or the infrastructure legislation? Or the border wall legislation? Or the job offshoring legislation? You know, items that The Donald promised would be ready and voted on in his first 100 days? Most of that stuff hasn't even had a cover page written for it yet. My point stands.
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Be brave, bring back those billions, pay some tax and create jobs.
*Some* tax? Apple would pay a tax on moving money out of the country where it came from. They would then pay a tax on bringing money INTO the USA. Then they would pay corporate tax on the profit registered. Sometimes those taxes are on the principal, not the net - so if you are bringing in $1,000,000, you pay all the taxes on the full $1,000,000, not on the post-excise tax amount.
The problem is everyone wants their cut. The foreign government wants their cut, the US government wants their cut, and the state
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Nope. Apple has stashed much of their cash in an Irish company which is not taxed anywhere, in a manner that they didn't have to pay any tax before they stashed it there. The latter point is what the EU objected to, claiming that Ireland allowed them excessive deductions for the "royalties" they paid to the stateless company, to the tune of US$13 billion of tax not paid.
They would have to pay US tax if they dividended these funds up to the US, but not any tax anywhere else. And they're busy lobbying
Yes, vets deserve great healthcare (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't it follow that non-vets deserve at least accessible basic healthcare?
you have basic healthcare out of market not covere (Score:2)
you have basic healthcare out of market not covered.
The vets should be in market all over the usa under the VA even at non VA places.
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Veterans have health care because they have through their service earned access to that care, either through service related injuries or as a condition of completing a full career in service to the country. It's part of the packge. By the way retired service members have to pay helathcare premiums too so it's not free for them either.
You would be hard pressed to find people that say healthcare shouldn't be accessable. The issue is thay many feel they shouldn't have
Re:Yes, vets deserve great healthcare (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, vets deserve great healthcare
Right! Because, after considerable thought, each chose to join the military and sign a contract that made specific offers (such as that health care). Vets EARNED the use of all of those professional services, materials, and people's skills by putting their lives on the line (or, if they were behind the scenes, working in a generally pretty sucky environment and for modest pay within a very rigid structure). They deserve that health care deal because that's part of what they BOUGHT with their service.
Doesn't it follow that non-vets deserve at least accessible basic healthcare?
That depends. What did you do to earn the services of a podiatrist to look at your stubbed toe? Why do you deserve part of that doctor's day, and the staff she pays, and the rent she pays on her office, and the materials she consumes, and the insurance she has to buy in case you want to frivolously sue her because your sore toe didn't heal fast enough to let you compete in the Olympics as a figure skater even though you've never been on the ice before?
Or are you saying that you're BORN with a claim on that doctor's time? Is that doctor born with a claim on some of your time? No? Why not?
Re:Yes, vets deserve great healthcare (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yes, vets deserve great healthcare (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would it follow that everyone else deserves something merely for existing?
Because, to quote Will Munny, "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it". Why the fuck do people have this fetish about feeling like they should have a say in what another human being "deserves". Fuck that self-centered viewpoint.
If you give two shits about your country and your fellow citizens then you should want them to be healthy and not completely broke. Healthy people who make a livable wage don't have to worry about their medical bills piling up so they can focus on other things like maybe training for a better job or, even better, buying shit which is the only way to grow the economy.
Once you start worrying about who deserves what you've already started down the wrong path. Not everyone is you. Not everyone has the same opportunities. It's not a matter of "deserve" it's a matter of decency.
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I'm not sure where exactly the line should be drawn, but almost every other country in the world spends SIGNIFICANTLY less on healthcare and has better overall outcomes *queue unsubstantiated anecdotes about long waits for emergency care*
I would think though that moving the line somewhere so that health is more important than profits...
As a small example, last night on the local news there was a story about someone trying to open a discount surgical clinic, his permit has been denied by the state at least 4
Where they agree... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Where they agree... (Score:5, Funny)
Their employees pay income tax, their customers pay sales tax, how many taxes can they stand? It's all too much, too much, the cuts and breaks have to start somewhere - why not start with the small number of rich and mega-corporations, get them off of this crazy tax merry-go-round and let them breathe, why don't we? Somebody needs some relief, and if we gave real relief to the masses it would sink the whole balance sheet. Think of the great things that the ultra-wealthy and giant corporations can do with real tax relief. Give real tax relief to Joe six-pack, and he'll just go buy a case - where's the greatness in that?
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Their employees pay income tax, their customers pay sales tax, how many taxes can they stand?
How about as much as democratically decided by the people?
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They do. What law - the written manifest of what is democratically decided by the people - is either entity breaking? Too many forget what Judge Learned Hand wrote in the 1934 case of Helvoring v. Gregory:
Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes.
I assume you take every tax deduction and break that you are legally entitled to, why should
Re:Where they agree... (Score:5, Insightful)
I assume you take every tax deduction and break that you are legally entitled to, why shouldn't anyone else?
Framing it like this suggests that the wealthiest people and corporations 'avoiding' taxes are just following the law, like anyone else.
But its not like anyone else, these are the people who first re-wrote the law, who then lobbied government to pass the law, and then who contribute handsomely to elected officials to ensure the law stays put.
Don't compare what Apple does to what I do. Its not in the same league.
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Re:Where they agree... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a great philosophy if tax laws came from, say, God. But in reality, tax laws are strongly influenced by wealthy corporations to their advantage. You and I, the average individual, have virtually no chance of influencing a single tax law. So the breaks that we are "entitled to" are thrust on us, whereas corporations write their own breaks. Still think it's fair?
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That's not an Apple (or any other company) problem. That's a Congress problem.
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Sounds like you have your wish (status quo), then. Congratulations!
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I'd expect they should pay, at least at local levels, the same sort of tax rate as businesses who can't afford to play a multi-national shell game to avoid taxes.
What that actual number would be is a complicated problem, but it's not unreasonable to assume that it's a lot higher than what they currently pay.
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He might become Joe twelve-pack like he used to be decades ago, showing the rest of the world that America can be great again.
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' Think of the great things that the ultra-wealthy and giant corporations can do with real tax relief. Give real tax relief to Joe six-pack, and he'll just go buy a case - where's the greatness in that?'
And they will do the same thing they are doing now: saving it for a rainy day, buying back stock, dividends (maybe) acquisitions. None of these puts money into the economy. At best, they put a few extra dollars in another rich persons savings account.
Give tax relief to Joe six-pack and he will go buy anot
More lies from the Hate Brigade (Score:3, Interesting)
Where Tim and Donald agree is that neither of them or their companies should have to pay US tax.
First of all, Apple paid over 8 billion dollars in taxes last year alone. How much did you pay? Apple does more to help the U.S. every year than generations of your family ever will.
As for the overseas money, Apple has said repeatedly they want to repatriate the money they have overseas, they just can't see [cnbc.com] paying the rates the U.S. current changes to do so.
Trump has said he wants to lower that rate dramaticall
Re:More lies from the Hate Brigade (Score:4, Interesting)
I also want to pay reasonable taxes.
Unfortunately I am not rich so I cannot get a lawyer to weasel me out of that.
So I pay full income taxes and social security as a (partially )self employed person. Apple otoh only pays a minute fraction , percentagewise, because they can affor said lawyers whose lawyer friend lobbyists created a horribly complex tax system to make that possible,
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Any of that activity is going to result in additional jobs, be it research positions, construction work to build facilities, or eventually people who need to staff those fa
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There's already such stipulation. All money spent towards capital expenditure or R&D (or payroll) aren't subject to tax. That's true today and has been true for about as long as the corporate tax has existed.
The only thing corporate tax actually taxes is profit left over that you haven't spent on business expenses (such as paying people, buying equipment, buildings, etc. etc.). And intend to either keep in a bank/security or distributing to shareholders.
Leaker! (Score:4, Funny)
Totally illegal(?)
"I could give a crap about the politics of it" (Score:5, Insightful)
Meetings with Tim must be fun when he says the opposite of what he actually means. You'd hope that a CEO or one of the world's largest companies would at least have a grasp of basic English.
Create jobs? You start first Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has FAR greater ability to create jobs than the federal government does as a general proposition. Apple is sitting on a gigantic war chest of money. If Tim Cook really gave a shit about creating jobs he could spend some of that Scrooge McDuck pile of money on something. Saying he supports Trump on job creation is a bunch of bullshit unless he is actually directing his company to do everything it can to create jobs. He hasn't done this so he's lying about that.
The only reason for Apple to sit on a pile of cash that large is because they cannot figure out something productive to do with the money. So they should either return it to shareholders or find some way to put it to productive use.
Veterans Affairs has struggled in providing health care to veterans. We have an expertise in some of the things at the base level that they're struggling with. So we're going to work with them. I could give a crap about the politics of it. I want to help veterans. My dad's a veteran. My brother served. We have so many military folks in Apple. These folks deserve great health care. So we're going to keep helping.
The VA needs help to be sure but how about solving the bigger problem? EVERYONE needs health care, not just veterans. EVERYONE needs health insurance, not just veterans. IT in medicine sucks terribly for the most part. Apple has done nothing to tackle this problem. That would be a great place to invest some of those billions they have on their balance sheet. Buy some medical records companies and get busy. Do something rather than talking to Trump which is probably a waste of time.
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A need does not create a right. People need health care, but it is NOT government's job to give everybody what they need.
If you need to eat, you go obtain food...
You need money to buy food, you go to work...
You need a job, you go out and find one...
See how this works?
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping those who are unable to help themselves, the disabled, the elderly and such and I support government and private programs that do this, but government should not give to those who could and should be
Everyone has a right to health care (Score:5, Insightful)
A need does not create a right. People need health care, but it is NOT government's job to give everybody what they need.
Fuck you for thinking that people don't have a right to receive health care. Everybody should have a right to be treated when they are sick without being bankrupted in the process. If you think otherwise then you are an asshole. Plenty of people work very hard and still end up with medical bills FAR beyond their ability to pay them. A few weeks stay in a hospital can easily cost six figures. The only institution that can solve this problem is the government and to pretend otherwise is both idiotic and cruel.
Even taking ethics out of it, pure economic pragmatism should drive us to want to see everyone taken care of because if you don't insure everyone then you end up spending even more money when they inevitably end up in the ER and drive up costs for everyone.
Re:Everyone has a right to health care (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are all of the solutions for taxes to pay for healthcare instead of fixing the ridiculous medical billing system? My wife receives an every 4 week IV that the hospital bills $55k for. The solution to that isn't to make everyone else pay a share of the $55k, it's to figure out why a hospital charges a fee ridiculously out of proportion to the cost of treatment. Did I mention that this hospital is a non-profit government subsidiary? If you are wondering who is causing the problem, look at your government. They want everything to go through them so they can control the money.
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I wish I had mod points for you! Well said.
Re:Everyone has a right to health care (Score:4, Insightful)
Incidentally, having an NHS-style national healthcare system is the most effective way to drive down that $55k bill. Because no one on the consumer side will have more bargaining power than the Federal government. More importantly, part of that $55k is, as the GP mentioned, due to the hospital having to eat the cost of people without insurance going to the ER.
Ultimately, the data out there shows that some level of nationalized healthcare leads to lower cost per person. With the US being double the cost/person of the next developed nation.
That doesn't mean we have to go full NHS like the UK. I like the Australian model where the government provides a basic level of health insurance and anything beyond that is privatized.
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They have a right to receive health care, we all do.
But you DON'T have a right to make ME give YOU health care.
See the difference?
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But you DON'T have a right to make ME give YOU health care.
See the difference?
I don't.
If you have the right to make me pay for the Iraq war, which I didn't want, or the War on Drugs, which I didn't want, and many other things I didn't want, then why don't I (meaning a majority of voters) have the right to make you pay into a universal risk pool for health care?
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Well, the practical answer is that the US Constitution makes defense and international treaties a federal responsibility, but not healthcare.
But people who actually favor liberty believe that no such right exists for any of these issue
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I think I'm gonna have to throw my hat in with the assholes. I also think people don't have a right to healthcare. I think people should earn what they have, be it healthcare, money, or freedom. Earn it. Work hard to get it! However, I also think that the core issue is that healthcare is much too expensive. I think the way to close the gap is to make healthcare cheaper, rather than making people more able to pay for it (read socialism). Step 1 is tort reform. Fix that first! Next fix waste. Too ma
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Fuck you for thinking that people don't have a right to receive health care.
No, fuck you for thinking that they do have a right. Seriously. Fuck the other person who moderated this feel-good bullshit up as well.
If everyone else has a right to healthcare, then you have an obligation to provide it to them. It's their right after all. So whatever it is you're doing now, you need to stop doing it so you can go provide people healthcare for all the people who have a right to be treated. Instead of posting on Slashdot, you should be providing someone with healthcare. Assuming this is
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What you are implicitly advocating is a system in which everybody can be as irresponsible as they want to be, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals can set prices as high as they want, and working folks have to pay no matter what.
Take obesity for example. In many states, Obamacare pays for all the statins, heart transplants, bypas
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A need does not create a right. People need health care, but it is NOT government's job to give everybody what they need.
Fuck you for thinking that people don't have a right to receive health care. .
Well, let's just stop right there and ask ourselves a few questions and perhaps you will see where I'm coming from.
What is a right? It is something an individual MUST get. Freedom of speech is a right, this means people MUST be allowed by the government to express themselves, it also means that government must prevent other's from infringing on my ability to speak my mind.
So if you say getting health care is a right, you are saying that doctors, nurses and hospitals must be forced by government to provi
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Healthcare: Apple has a healthcare engineering group that assists healthcare providers find technical solutions.
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What is the point of returning manufacturing to the US if its done by robots?
What's the point in saving the US auto industry if its manufacturing is heavily dependent upon robots?
Even in heavily robotic manufacturing and assembly there are jobs. Plus there is the entire issue of the money being spent in the US and having secondary economic effects and benefits. Plus there is parts and subsystem vendors located in the US being more viable, again see auto industry.
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Well, you'll have to hire some people to fill in some of the spots the robots can't. Or maintain those robots. Or improve those robots.
It won't be the level of jobs that happened at the rise of automotive manufacturing. Those days are gone. But it's better than having that manufacturing powerhouse in China.
There's also the issue of intellectual property. Not just in the products you make but in the equipment and logistics required to manufacture it. That's valuable knowledge that you'll have a tough time ke
Solving real problems (Score:2)
Employment: They are investing in robots that disassemble old phones for recycling. That is a first step to robots that can assemble new phones. That can return factories to the US, increase jobs, increase tax revenues.
Robots that could assembly phones have been available for decades. You apparently are not aware of the level of automation that is already available. The reason Apple manufactures a lot of their stuff in China is because that is where the supply chain is located. It has nothing to do with a lack of sophisticated automation available in the US.
Healthcare: Apple has a healthcare engineering group that assists healthcare providers find technical solutions.
What the fuck does that mean? Could you come up with a more vague and content free sentence? You're talking about shit like Apple selling iPads to doctor's office
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Apple has FAR greater ability to create jobs than the federal government does as a general proposition. Apple is sitting on a gigantic war chest of money.
Apple reportedly has about $246 billion in cash. That seems like a large amount, but the U.S. has a population of 320 million, so think of it as 770 dollars per American.
But, of course, most of Apple's sales didn't come from America. So, two thirds of that logically should be used to "create jobs" in the places where they sell their products. So: figure they have two hundred and fifty dollars per American available to "create jobs."
I guess you can create jobs with $250 per person. But, "greater ability
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IT in medicine sucks terribly for the most part.
It's amazing how few people realize this. If you talk to politicians or listen to people at TED talks, you'd think that healthcare IT is cutting edge and is changing the way we do medicine in amazing ways. Nothing is further from the truth. Healthcare IT is so far behind the rest of the industry that it's embarrassing. The tech is outdated, and crazy expensive. Look at how hard the U.K. NHS got hit by WannaCry recently for an example.
I worked in IT at a hospital for a few years. They started rolling out a n
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IT, computer systems, and hospital billing are such a clusterfuck any solutions in healthcare that don't address them are a waste of time. Single payer fixes nothing when hour long services and bags of mostly saline solution are billed at the same rates as luxury SUVs.
Tim Cook ain't no Steve Jobs (Score:2, Insightful)
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hubris (Score:2)
And what experience does Tim Cook have on these issues? He is a businessman billionaire who is simply parroting what people tell him; he has no first-hand experience with the effects of illegal immigration, and he has no background in science and likely couldn't explain climate models if his life depended on it.
Cook is a decis
His area of expertise? (Score:2)
How can Tim Cook claim expertise in either climate change or immigration? He is the business leader of a large corporation. I don't see how that translates to being an expert on either climate or immigration.
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And that's why Trump asked Cook to give him advice: on the subjects that Cook is actually an expert on, which is large tech companies and the tech sector.
Cook has no expertise in climate change or immigration, nor is h
and when it comes time to unlock the next iphone?? (Score:2)
and when it comes time to unlock the next iphone??
Will they add an FBI mode that turns off the auto wipe and turns off the login timeout so they can try all pins?
Let managed phones be unlocked with an admin login? that can be used even with an user set lock pin?
Have an GOV only unlocking room at apple HQ that is only used under court order?
REsponsiblity? (Score:2, Interesting)
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Pushed hard on immigration?? (Score:2)
He "pushed hard on immigration..."? What exactly is his stance on immigration that he needs to push on? Sure, I understand opposition to building a wall between Mexico and the U.S., but that is a specific issue.
So, is he supporting open borders? He states "we clearly have a very different view on things in that area". Other than a border wall, where is Trump wildly off-base on immigration?
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Sigh. (Score:2)
Why would an Apple CEO have "a level of expertise" on climate?
Come to that, why would the president, either?
Neither of them should be discussing it between themselves in any serious business fashion. That's pretty much the entire problem in a nutshell.
Apple could provide computers or services that scientists could use to make a decision to inform a president's political direction. Other than that, I'm not even sure why you'd bring it up, even.
Re:Elites responsible ... what a crock (Score:4, Insightful)
Mr. Cook, with all due respect, how can you claim to be remotely "responsible" while your lifestyle, and the lifestyles of those like you, is destroying our society and our environment.
I'm curious as to what you know about Cook's "lifestyle". I will venture the guess "absolutely nothing whatsoever."
What if anything do you know. (Score:5, Funny)
According to environmental scientists if you are using electricity and not living or at least pushing for their "agrarian utopia" you are destroying society and our environment.
Bullshit. Citation needed.
Which "scientists" are you purportedly quoting here?
Cook lives in a multi-million dollar abode so hard to claim, by their standards, that he is living a responsible lifestyle.
In Silicon Valley "multi-million dollar abode" means a shack with running water.
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Once you understand what they are pushing you can go read the guardian, huffington post, or similar sites mention your thinking from above and be prepared to be considered one of the most evil persons in the world.
Not scientists [Re:What if anything do you know.] (Score:3)
According to environmental scientists if you...
Bullshit. Citation needed. Which "scientists" are you purportedly quoting here?
Such as Oxford Martin School or read the work of Carol Smith from United Nations University and David Brubaker from John Hopkins.
"Oxford Martin School" is not a scientist, in fact, is not even a person.
"Carol Smith from United Nations University" is not a scientist. She is a journalist.
I don't know anything about David Brubaker. He doesn't seem to be a scientist, or at least, google scholar can't dig up any citations to his papers. And he is not listed on the staff of Johns Hopkins. [jh.edu]
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He also builds facilities that are carbon neutral and is pushing strongly for environmental responsibility.
What have you done?
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