Wednesday, February 1, 2017

ANOTHER BAD APPLE

    Apple Technologies CEO Tim Cook is another Wall Street freebooter who's suddenly become a member of the Anti-Trump Resistance; or so it would seem from the Corporate Media. Cook, with a net worth of $785 million, is portraying himself as sympathetic to the plight of immigrants, and has been complaining loudly to a gullible press how Trump's policies will impact economic opportunity.

    But is this the whole story? Maybe not. According to the Government's own numbers, Apple filed for nearly 7,000 work-related immigrant visas during the last fiscal year. They rank in the top 20 corporate visa sponsors---in other words, they are importing cheap labor from abroad while denying jobs to Americans. Immigration reform is obviously not in Apple's financial interest.

    Not only that, but Apple also benefits from a little-known government subsidy program enacted by Obama, but heading for the chopping-block under Trump. The Optional Practical Training program subsidizes Wall Street firms engaged in STEM industries to hire foreign graduate students. Corporations are not only given tax breaks under this program, but paid a cash bonus of up to $15,000 per student hired. How many Apple has is not reported; but 180,000 jobs nationwide are currently taken from American graduate students to favor foreigners. And, as we noted earlier, Academia participates wholeheartedly in the foreign-exchange student scam.

    Not only are Trump's immigration reforms biting into Cook's bottom line, but there was another relevant development related to Apple recently. Though the story went unnoticed in America, the Chinese Media had a story about it. This excerpt from the Business Section of The Global Times will explain a lot:

    "Apple Inc.'s sales on the Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao---once touted as the company's next growth engine, stood at $16.2 billion, down 12%, the only market posting a contraction. The company announced its new quarter results last Tuesday...In 2016, Apple's performance in China fell short of expectations, with its I-phone production volume falling 11.5% annually. It's gross profit plunged 19%."

     This probably underlies much of Cook's newly-found activism. It's going to be a lot easier to blame Trump's policies at the next Shareholders' Meeting than explaining to angry investors how he managed to botch things so badly in China. Apple's performance in China has been so bad that Chinese-produced I-Phones are outselling Apple nearly 4-1; even in Taiwan and the Territories. And Cook's not getting any bailout from Trump either.

     The anti-Trump 'protesters' need to take a good, long look at who's backing them, and why.

 

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