It isn't just the cost that's an issue, it's the fact that American workers are not as... flexible... on what constitutes an acceptable work/life balance. Would you do what these workers ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and...</a> ) do if you had any other opportunity at all? Labor laws aside, could they pay you enough to live and work like this and still make an affordable device?<p>Relevant quote from article:<p>Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.<p>A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.<p>“The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”
"Donald Trump says that if he becomes president, he will “get Apple to start making their computers and their iPhones on our land, not in China.”"<p>Perhaps Trump's next construction should be 100% American as well, as opposed to his previous ones:<p><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/08/trump-tower-was-built-on-undocumented-immigrants-backs.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/08/trump-tower...</a>
I don't know why we want so hard to bring these jobs back (the same way we always try to keep the metallurgic industry in Europe).<p>These jobs are becoming obsolete, and delocalizing to countries with lower labor costs is only a step before factories become fully automated (and some companies are reshoring because robots are becoming cheaper than outshore workers). The workers here that are left with no job and no marketable skills should be manifesting for an UMI instead of asking to politics & companies to keep the factories here.
I thought that Trump's idea (Scenario 4?) was to raise the import/tariff fee so that it would essentially cost the same regardless of where it was manufactured. Another option would be to eliminate things like NAFTA. I'm not saying these are good ideas (in fact they may be terrible), I just want to point out additional scenarios.
<p><pre><code> According to King at the Ames Lab,
an iPhone has about 75 elements in it,
two-thirds of the periodic table.
</code></pre>
I'm really going to need some percentages of mass here.<p>The thing that lands in the box. Not the catalysts, and substances required for processes used during manufacture.<p>If I'm not holding it in my hands, right now, it doesn't make the list.<p><pre><code> 01. H (1) Hydrogen
02. He (2) Helium
03. Li (3) Lithium
04. B (5) Boron
05. C (6) Carbon
06. N (7) Nitrogen
07. O (8) Oxygen
08. F (9) Flourine
09. Na (11) Sodium
10. Mg (12) Magnesium
11. Al (13) Aluminum
12. Si (14) Silicon
13. P (15) Phosphorus
14. S (16) Sulfur
15. Cl (17) Chlorine
16. Ca (20) Calcium
17. Sc (21) Scandium
18. Ti (22) Titanium
19. V (23) Vanadium
20. Cr (24) Chromium
21. Mn (25) Manganese
22. Fe (26) Iron
23. Co (27) Cobalt
24. Ni (28) Nickel
25. Cu (29) Copper
26. Zn (30) Zinc
27. Ga (31) Gallium
28. Ge (32) Germanium
29. As (33) Arsenic
30. Se (34) Selenium
31. Br (35) Bromine
32. Sr (38) Strontium
33. Y (39) Yttrium
34. Zr (40) Zirconium
35. Nb (41) Niobium
36. Mo (42) Molybdenum
37. Ru (44) Ruthenium
38. Rh (45) Rhodium
39. Pd (46) Palladium
40. Ag (47) Silver
41. Cd (48) Cadmium
42. In (49) Indium
43. Sn (50) Tin
44. Sb (51) Antimony
45. Te (52) Tellurium
46. Ba (56) Barium
47. La (57) Lanthanum
48. Hf (72) Hafnium
49. Ta (73) Tantalum
50. W (74) Tungsten
51. Re (75) Rhenium
52. Os (76) Osmium
53. Ir (77) Iridium
54. Pt (78) Platinum
55. Au (79) Gold
56. Hg (80) Mercury
57. Tl (81) Thallium
58. Bi (83) Bismuth
59. Po (84) Polonium
60. Rn (86) Radon
61. Ce (58) Cerium
62. Pr (59) Praseodymium
63. Nd (60) Neodymium
64. Sm (61) Promethium
65. Eu (63) Europium
66. Gd (64) Gadolinium
67. Tb (65) Terbium
68. Dy (66) Dysprosium
69. Ho (67) Holmium
70. Er (68) Erbium
71. Tm (69) Thulium
72. Yb (70) Ytterbium
73. Lu (71) Lutetium
</code></pre>
Some of those I'm not buying into.