NYT report: Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class

And that's a fantastic point.

 

It's not just Americans.

 

The fact is America's fundamental economy has shifted dramatically in the last decade or so, and as a result, the Middle Class is disappearing. Some of that is due to government policy, but I'd venture to say 80 percent of it is due to massive economic shifts around the world, illustrated by Apple's sitting on $80 billion in cash, but hiring on Asians to manufacture its goods to sell to Americans.

As Thomas Friedman points out in his excellent recent book, That Used to Be Us, it's not too late to revive the Middle Class. But it will take an overhaul of tax policy, health care, and particularly education.

And we all know none of that will happen anytime soon.

 

Sorry. Been busy. Only got to the Times a little while ago, and the article had already been posted.

I'll try to do better next time.

(Of course more than half the board doesn't even read the Times. I constantly say it's the best paper in the country.)

 

It's OK in it's coverage area.

 

I try not to worry about this stuff and just do the best job I possibly can. If the world around me is greedy and incompetent, not much I can do about it from my position in the squeezed middle class.

 

This is a great read re: similar dynamics:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/making-it-in-america/8844/

 

Nothing like painting a broad brush. I'm sure you can find evidence of both. But it might not fit as neatly into your preconceived notions. I, for one, am shocked that companies would look to cut their expenses when possible. Greedy bastards.

 

When you get laid off, don't come here and whine about it. It's just business.

 

And when the CEO doubles his bonus after laying you and thousands of others off, remember, you're all just envious.

 

That is a great story. The worst part: There's no easy answer to this problem. That won't stop people from trying to come up with some.

 

Just doing some back of napkin calculations and making some broad assumptions I would estimate that Apple saves at least 12 - 15 billion a year in employees taxes by outsourcing. That does not even account for the infrastructure they would have to build to manage an additional 500,000 employees.

That is a lot of money not flowing into our social security and medicare systems.