No, That Mac Factory in Texas Is Not New (nytimes.com) 310
President Trump on Wednesday toured a Texas plant that makes high-end Apple computers, chatting with Apple's chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, and accepting a plate with the words "Assembled in USA." From a report: It was a pretty typical publicity event, until the end. Mr. Trump walked in front of the news cameras and took credit for the plant, suggesting it had opened that day. "For me, this is a very special day," he said. Mr. Cook stood next to him, stone-faced. The plant has been making Apple computers since 2013. Immediately after Mr. Trump's comments, Mr. Cook thanked the president and his staff. "I'm grateful for their support in pulling today off and getting us to this far. It would not be possible without them," he said. He did not correct the record. The moment was part of a bizarre afternoon in Texas, where the president played up a six-year-old factory as evidence of his three-year-old presidency's success in bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. It showed Mr. Trump's willingness to leverage his influence over American companies in his pitch to voters that he deserves another four years in the White House. And it illustrated the complicated position that Mr. Cook and other corporate executives find themselves in with this president, forced to stand silently by while he sometimes misleads about their businesses.
[...] On Wednesday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Cook a "very special person" because of his ability to create jobs. He turned to Mr. Cook and said, "What would you say about our economy compared to everybody else?" Mr. Cook replied, "I think we have the strongest economy in the world." "Strongest in the world," Mr. Trump said. The president then took questions on the impeachment inquiry and launched into a tirade against "the fake press." Mr. Cook stood silently nearby.
[...] On Wednesday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Cook a "very special person" because of his ability to create jobs. He turned to Mr. Cook and said, "What would you say about our economy compared to everybody else?" Mr. Cook replied, "I think we have the strongest economy in the world." "Strongest in the world," Mr. Trump said. The president then took questions on the impeachment inquiry and launched into a tirade against "the fake press." Mr. Cook stood silently nearby.
Tim Cook is adept at flattering lying leaders (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
We really should stop electing leaders that are either so easily misled, or so willing to mislead their constituents.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed.
But who do you suggest?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Re-election year is always about buying votes.. (Score:5, Informative)
You obviously didn't read the OP's article nor the one you posted.
Obama visited a plan 'under construction'.
Trump tried to say it was a new plant and take credit even though it was opened before he even ran for office.
Re: (Score:2)
You obviously didn't read the OP's article nor the one you posted.
Obama visited a plan 'under construction'. Trump tried to say it was a new plant and take credit even though it was opened before he even ran for office.
30% of the country has lost all respect for the truth. One politician cutting the ribbon on a new plant is equivalent to another claiming "Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant" that had been there for 6 years.
"It's all the same BS for votes."
really?
Re: Re-election year is always about buying votes. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Since the low meat prices are due to tariffs that farmers are now being directly subsidized for by the Federal government, you're actually also paying for that meat with your taxes.
Re:Tim Cook is adept at flattering lying leaders (Score:5, Funny)
"If I were given a tour of an Apple plant ..."
We usually call them 'trees'.
Re: (Score:2)
What do you call a Microsoft office?
Re: (Score:2)
What do you call a Microsoft office?
A data leak
Re:Tim Cook is adept at flattering lying leaders (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, if you hurry before he takes it down you can catch his tweet:
"Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America. Today Nancy Pelosi closed Congress because she doesn’t care about American Workers!"
(It's too bad our country seems destined to always be saddled with such a large number of people who believe what this guy and people like him say)
Re: (Score:2)
It's recorded forever in the annals of your country's history, right? The official record of presidential communications includes all Trump's tweets, doesn't it?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Funny how that's not the factory where Trump was speaking. So what's the point of bringing it up? This fact was in the damn summary already, are you so fanatical about pushing your agenda you can't even stop to read a paragraph first?
You look quite foolish now. I hope you aren't the sort who feels crippling shame when proven to be deliberately ignorant in public.
Re: (Score:2)
I hope you aren't the sort who feels crippling shame when proven to be deliberately ignorant in public.
I do. I would very much like to see willful ignorance and blind devotion result in crippling shame when put to the measure. If such people were paralyzed by their shame, there would be more room for people more willing to admit they were wrong; we wouldn't be in the messes we continue find ourselves in.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Tim Cook is adept at flattering lying leaders (Score:4, Insightful)
If I were given a tour of an Apple plant by Tim Cook, it would be a very special day for me as well! In what way did what Trump said "mislead" anyone?
How the hell is this modded Troll? Apple expanded a new wing to the Austin plant that previously just built MacBook Pros, and that will now build Mac Pros in the expanded space. FFS, some of you people nitpick the hell out of anything involving a Trump story.
Re: (Score:3)
B. He said, "Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America".
It was a complete and utter lie. Why do you call calling out a blatant lie "nitpicking"?
Re: (Score:3)
So what you're saying is the expanded plant is not open, and Trump lied. I'm glad you seem to be providing more sources that back up everyone else's position on this topic.
Re: (Score:3)
Because you are fucking up our world not just your country.
The clothes have no emperor (Score:3)
These used to be called "left handed compliments", seeming to say something praiseful but saying nothing of the sort via ambiguiuty.
It's great to watch Tim Cook flattering the president with calorie free praise. Next He will say "Without any Qualification, Donald Trump is a presidential leader"" or "We have had the fortune to work with President trump and can tell that You will be lucky to get this man to work for you".
Re: (Score:2)
Like saying Payton Manning is one of the three best quarterbacks in his family? (Joke from his roast)
How many robots did Tim Cook hire? (Score:2)
If you have to go after Tim Cook, why not focus on the REAL issue here? Did Apple actually hire anyone? Or just buy some more robots? No mention in the story or the comments. Also no mention of automation.
Not surprised.
I could do broader research, but I already know the answer. Apple hired as few human beings as possible.
Then again, you could argue that some of the fanbois act like robots.
I guess I need to include a disclaimer that most of my experiences with Apple as a customer have been negative. Most rec
What? (Score:4, Insightful)
In January, Apple announced it was going to move production of the Mac Pro to China:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a... [wsj.com]
After tariffs were introduced, Apple announced they would keep production in Austin:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/2... [cnbc.com]
So, yeah, Trump wasn't responsible for *opening* the plant, but he's most certainly responsible for keeping the plant open.
Not a fan of Trump at all, but holy cow this is some garbage level reporting.
Re:What? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think there is more behind the scenes there. Apple CEO is on the President's advisory board, sees that Tariffs will at some point make Apple less profitable. The bargaining chip he has is, we make this computer in the US. If we stop making it in the US, then when negotiating for exemptions on the tariffs we can say we'll bring that manufacturing back to the US. Trump and Cook both can be "Winners" while in reality nothing has changed.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I mean at this point does anyone but his most ardent supporters assume that he lies most of the time. Here is his exact tweet: “Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America. Today Nancy Pelosi closed Congress because she doesn’t care about American Workers!”
The first point is maybe the threat of tariffs kept the work here in the US however there is also the possibility that Apple could have had two factories with one in the US
Re: What? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
But he was also responsible for the situation which originally caused the plan to close the plant.
This really reminds me of the Dilbert strip where someone gets the price for beeing "most overpaid due to gross incompetence".
Re: (Score:2)
Many of the responses here make valid points. The story isn't all one thing or all the other thing, it's a mix of both.
What's The NY Times's excuse for leaving out half the story? Aren't they supposed to be professionals? Is news reporting in The NY Times supposed to be comparable to your average reddit rant?
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
In my experience, validated by reading a lot of original source materials must of the reporting on Trump is garbage..
Pretty much all of the reporting about Trump, what he says, what he does and what it means is garbage. Apparently he rubs the average reporter the wrong way and they simply cannot resist lashing out and piling on the negative stories. They love to take Trump out of context, edit a sound bite down and accuse him of things which are not in fact true. I'm willing to let a lot of this go exce
Re:What? (Score:5, Informative)
You can read a transcript of everything he said here:
https://www.politifact.com/tru... [politifact.com]
He starts off with utter bullshit:
"Trump: "I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct -- not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement. But you don’t make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don’t know the facts. And it’s a very, very important process to me, and it’s a very important statement."
This has been proven time and again that this is the actual opposite of his ethos. At the time, the inauguration nonsense was still fresh on everyone's minds. The context here is important: He failed to condemn the white nationalists for a period of time, caught a LOT of heat for it, then came out with what appeared to be some half-hearted forced statement condemning them- only to then in this conference get in front of reporters and say:
Trump: "Excuse me, excuse me. They didn’t put themselves -- and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides."
These rallyers were chanting "You will not replace us... Jews will not replace us" while carrying torches that alluded to the KKK.There is nothing fine about this at all, and if you think there is anything redeeming in that, I can't agree with you one bit.
Re: (Score:2)
I think the problem is that it is really impossible to report on Trump. He speaks off the cuff in a way that presents as incredibly inconsistent, so an accurate report today might appear wrong tonight once he starts tweeting or tomorrow when his administration holds a press conference and pretends he didn't say a thing.
This is very useful to him as it lets his apologizers pretend he's being misrepresented by the media.
At the same time his most bigoted supporters can key in on the worst of what he says, tell
Re: (Score:2)
The old "they're all doing it" defence. Yet they are not all doing it.
um (Score:2)
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Cook a "very special person" because of his ability to create jobs. He turned to Mr. Cook and said, "What would you say about our economy compared to everybody else?" Mr. Cook replied, "I think we have the strongest economy in the world." "Strongest in the world," Mr. Trump said. The president then took questions on the impeachment inquiry and launched into a tirade against "the fake press." Mr. Cook stood silently nearby.
Um ... OK? So the sitting president is happy that a business leader called our economy the strongest in the world. And?
OFFS (Score:2, Informative)
This is newsworthy for slashdot? Slow news day, think of some way to bash Trump again since he's the new Bush?
So the NYT "think" that Trump suggested the factory had just opened, when he didn't actually say that? Sounds to me like he was touting the economy, not that the factory just opened (what suggested that anyway?) it was running strong and the economy is in very good shape. What about employment at the factory? Has it increased employment since it opened in 2013? Has their output increased? Tho
Re: (Score:2)
Dude, it's a story about US politics combined with Apple. If there was an explicit social justice activism angle it would be the perfect Slashdot click storm.
Re: (Score:2)
So the NYT "think" that Trump suggested the factory had just opened, when he didn't actually say that? Sounds to me like he was touting the economy, not that the factory just opened (what suggested that anyway?)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJ... [twimg.com]
Today I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America. Today Nancy Pelosi closed Congress because she doesn’t care about American Workers!
Trump said it. Not suggested, said it very directly.
RTFA (Score:3)
Spineless (Score:2)
That's what you call "forced to stand silently by while he sometimes misleads about their businesses".
Fake news (Score:2, Funny)
The factory really did open that day, the day before it was a pizza parlor with an international pedophile ring operating in a back room.
To his defense (Score:2)
So what did the OP expect Cook to do?! (Score:2)
I mean, it's not exactly a revelation that Trump has a history of trying to exaggerate and take credit for businesses coming back to America or staying in America when it was happening anyway. I believe at last count, it was 23 times the press could cite instances where he did it.
But Americans need to wake up and realize that we're lied to ALL the time like that. Trump just makes it easier to figure out when he does it, because he's pandering to a lower IQ audience which makes up a pretty good percentage of
Re: (Score:2)
Trump is like a petulant child. Perfectly well behaved until you try to get them to do something that they don't want to do. Then they throw their toys out of the pram.
The danger with the current POTUS is that he controls the US Nuclear weapons.
Humour the man and hope that he is declared medically unfit to stand for re-election.
The real issue (Score:2)
What I find amazing is that there are still people around who type statements that reveal they have failed realize that there is not one single thing Trump says that can be trusted.
Defenders/Supporters and Detractors alike.
Carefully now: There are things Trump has said that have turned out to be true. That is not the same thing as saying his statements can be trusted.
The constant lies aren't what bothers me (Score:2)
SMH (Score:2)
All I can do is shake my head at all of these lying, corrupt, money-grubbing fuck sticks.
Trump lies, we know that.
Cook won't correct Trump so Trump favors Apple/Cook/etc.
Same old schtick.
Wait wait (Score:2)
Wait....Donald Trump lied and took credit for something he had no part of?
this is my shocked face
What would Steve do? (Score:2)
Jobs wouldn't have stood by for any of this. He was many things, but never a political pawn.
The trump people wouldn't have been able to get Jobs to even return their calls.
Tim Cook doesn't realize that acquiescing to this bumbling idiot only makes tariff problems far worse.
I had hoped that Cook wasn't that incompetent but this pretty much confirms it.
Re:Tim Cook has no scruples (Score:5, Interesting)
It’s his job to be about the almighty buck.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, that's capitalism for you. Don't let ridiculous concepts like morality and ethics get in the way of the allmighty buck.
Re: (Score:2)
How do you think the people at the Texas plant would feel about your morality and ethics if, by sticking to them, Apple had not got the tariff exemptions and had shut down the facility causing them to lose their jobs?
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, Tim Cook and capitalism are clearly to blame for Donald Trump being president of the US.
It sounds like Cook tolerated a visit from the president of his country, whom he likely despises. He wasn't rude, but he also made it clear he wasn't a supporter.
Did you want him to maybe throw a pie at Trump?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The left still can't understand how they helped Trump win.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
He's got to pick his battles. It's naive and foolish to think he should fight at every single opportunity.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Apple doesn't pay dividends. You're basically hoping that the value of the stock will increase.
Apple stock pays dividends. Maybe you don't like the amount, but they do pay them...
Dividend History [apple.com]
Apple Inc. Common Stock (AAPL) Dividend History [nasdaq.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
The Mueller report did not find no collusion. Mueller left it up to a corrupt attorney general to decide.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
> Trump ORDERED the quid pro quo -
Uh. No. Trump literally said "I want nothing from Ukraine". Sondland and the other ambassadors made the assumption and speculated on their own why aid was held up.
> The facts are settled.
Yes, that this impeachment has turned up nothing. Ambassadors disagreed with Foreign policy, didn't have all the facts, and speculated as to why they didn't get what they wanted.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes but we always forget that “getting us out of a slump” meant foisting record debts on the next generations
Does the phrase "quantitative easing" mean anything to you?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Also, there WAS no slump! The economy was back to normal when Trump took over.
This time around it is just public debt without the accompanying growth that can pay for it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
You are ignoring modern history if you think that a Democrat in office doesn't make a difference. Reagan cut taxes significantly while also removing our ability to deduct credit card interest (Massive swipe at the middle class). Sounds fiscally okay so far? Except for the arms race he was also engaged in which dramatically increased defense spending.
Bush Sr raised taxes and decreased spending righting the wrongs of Reagan who dramatically increased the deficit. This was of course not popular leading to Cl
Re: (Score:2)
Funny how you don't mention the biggest discretionary spending item of all: the Military. Go for it!
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
You mean like Obama did? I'll bet you didn't care back then and you only care now because of the "R" after Trump's name.
Obama was the worst president in history by many measures, including number of drone strikes and running the least transparent administration in history. But Trump is worse by all the same measurements.
There are two ways to get out of the debt hole... 1. GDP growth and/or 2. Cutting spending.
He's cutting taxes on the wealthy. That historically leads to more debt.
So far, with bassline budgeting
My favorite bass line is boogie woogie.
Re: (Score:2)
> Obama was the worst president in history by many measures
Mostly agree but the bar is fairly low with the likes of Wilson. Obama was not as bad as Wilson.
> Trump is worse by all the same measurements.
Maybe. So far not nearly as bad as Obama.
>cutting taxes on the wealthy. That historically leads to more debt
While it wasn't only a tax cut on wealthy, you can cut taxes and increase revenues. I would like that tax cut to coincide with cut in spending but I'll take the minor victory of less tax
Re: (Score:2)
That's funny because when he was a D he wasn't smeared. What changed?
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, the other choice was much worse, sadly.
And with the current round of Dem Presidential hopefuls, wanting to fundamentally change the US from what it has been till now....well, I don't see any better choices this go around either at this point either, sadly.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
wanting to fundamentally change the US from what it has been till now.
So does Trump. He wants to change this nation from a democratic republic to a Putin-style oligarchy, run by a strong man and propped up by dishonest manipulation of media. So far it's been working rather well for him. An unrelenting torrent of blatant lies from the top levels of our government has become accepted as the new normal.
That's much more dangerous than anything these Democrat candidates are proposing, which are mostly FDR-style programs that are not all that different from what was already done in
Re: (Score:2)
So does Trump. He wants to change this nation from a democratic republic to a Putin-style ...
Believing in stories like this doesn't seem to make you happy.
Observing and evaluating facts might help you out more than telling yourself stories about the secret thoughts of people you never met.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, the other choice was much worse, sadly.
In other words, the other choice had a vagina, and you and the other people that are afraid of people with vaginas being in control decided to believe all of the lies and fabrications that were made up about that person.
Are you trying to say that (Score:2)
in the tsunami of lies that fly out of his mouth, the truth accidently gets out on the odd occasion in spite of everything he can do to stop it? Got you, it does happen.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why do Trump haters always misunderstand? (Score:4, Insightful)
A perfect example is trickle down economics. Now that we have 30 years of data on the effects, we can reasonably say that it did not work at all the way it was supposed to. After just 5 years, it had actually appeared to be working, but only because we could not fully understand the long term implications at the time.
Trickle down economics worked perfectly. It gave more money to the wealthy at the expense of the less fortunate.
What? You expected it to actually improve things for everyone?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The point if you keep missing it is that Trump doesn’t speak the truth because he doesn’t care that he speaks the truth. There are no consequences for him to get things right. With Trump he sometimes speaks half-truths but to a supporter it doesn’t matter. For example if he wanted to invade South Korea because of their nuclear missile program would you support it? What do you mean South Korea and North Korea are two different countries? Technicalities . . .
By the way here is full tweet:
Re: (Score:2)
> Trump doesn’t speak the truth
Nor do democrats nor the media. Lying is par for the course. What's different is that the things he lies about isn't as important as the things he gets right. Take that tweet for example. He over emphasizes what makes him look good and over emphasizes what makes his opponents look bad to reinforce the narrative that suits him. So what?
> there are no consequences for him to get things right
Because no one trusts the media. The media have lied and failed at th
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Your comment: Mind reading while ignoring everything I said to attack strawmen. What is the point in continuing to talk to you if that is how you respond? That kind of goes to the GP point and title "Why do Trump haters always misunderstand". I gave an honest interpretation and you go on a mind reading trip.
> Your entire post is classic Trump “whataboutism”.
I said lying is par for the course. How is that whataboutism?
> your only concern is that you believe him 100%
No, I don't. Don'
Re:Why do Trump haters always misunderstand? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Is opening production for Mac Pro (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Why do Trump haters always misunderstand? (Score:2)
But Apple has requested and been granted waivers from said tariffs on parts and their finished products are still not hit with them... They were supposed to get a 30% & 15% this year but they didn't. This is all kudos to Cook for doing an awesome job in his relationship to Trump.
Now what Trump CAN take credit for is that Apple opened a new campus in Austin. But that's not a manufacturing plant.... Still credit is where credit due... but in turn we would need to credit Obama for this plant's opening an
Re: (Score:2)
How? Apple has had a presence in Austin for as long as I can remember. AppleCare was always down there and in Illinois. So Apple added some R&D jobs in an area that already had a strong tech presence and that already had Apple offices. What does this have to do with President Trump? Merely the fact that he happened to be POTUS when it happened? By that standard, President Reagan caused the Challenger disaster....
No, thei
Re: (Score:2)
"...the tariffs made it so that some jobs did not move to China that would have..." ...while other jobs were lost. The effect of tariffs cannot viewed solely from one specific location to suit a narrative, they need to be considered for their broader effect (which is clearly negative).
"...they cannot seem to understand the most basic concepts around a story when it comes to Trump..."
You mean like you just did above?
When talking about tariffs and trade wars between some of the world's largest economies, no
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you don't, others do.
Re:Why are Trump apologists allowed to exist? (Score:2)