I wonder what the tax incentives to Apple were. A local story [1] reported: "Apple could qualify for several different state tax credits. An offer from the Arizona Commerce Authority is currently on the table but hasn't been finalized, senior vice president Nicole McTheny said."<p>I don't like tax incentives for big businesses to locate to a particular state. I see why they happen, as each state is put in a position to outbid the others and businesses are compelled to take free money. We should outlaw this practice with federal law and stop taking money from the middle-class to benefit the rich, under threats of having no jobs.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20131104/WIRE/131109835/1033/news?Title=Apple-to-expand-to-Phoenix-employ-700" rel="nofollow">http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20131104/WIRE/131109835/1...</a>
So do the economics actually favor moving some manufacturing back to the US now or is this a token measure just attractive enough because of the right amount of tax incentives mixed with the intangible benefits like good PR?<p>Whenever I read these "Apple is bring manufacturing back to the US" stories all I can think of is the famous exchange between Steve Jobs and the President where Jobs supposedly said flat out, "those jobs aren't coming back" [0] Granted Apply has been known to make definitive statements like that only to do a 180 not long after.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and...</a>?
The article contents and headline disagree with each other. The article contents says that the facility will <i>create</i> 2000 jobs in various fields in Arizona. But towards the end,Arizona's governor is quoted as saying the facility will create at least 700 jobs, as well as "1,300 construction and associated positions in the state", with no word on how many of those positions are temporary jobs related to the construction of the facility itself.
So what do we think they're manufacturing with sapphire? Watch faces or 4K touch screens? Perhaps gearing up for an extra-secret (no manufacturing leaks) iPhone 6?
I grew up in Mesa and it's nice to see this happen here. Phoenix isn't a large tech hub and by Apple putting this plant in Mesa, this will help put it on the map (on a smaller scale)