Why America Doesn't Need More Tech Giants Like Apple

Hugh Pickens writes "Optimists says that if only America produced more companies like Apple and Amazon and Google and Facebook, the country's economic problems would be fixed — America could retrain its vast, idle construction-and-manufacturing workforce, and our unemployment and inequality problems would be solved. But Apple's $1 billion new data center in North Carolina has been a disappointing development for many residents, who can't comprehend how expensive facilities stretching across hundreds of acres can create only 50 new jobs, especially after thousands of positions in the region have been lost to cheaper foreign competition. In fact, Apple actually exemplifies some of the reasons why the U.S. has such huge unemployment and inequality problems: 'Digital' businesses like Apple employ far fewer people than traditional manufacturing businesses, Apple's 60,000+ jobs are not just in the U.S. — they're spread around the world. Companies like Apple 'create amazing products and vast shareholder wealth, but they don't spread this wealth around as much as earlier industrial giants did,' writes Henry Blodget. 'So, yes, we should celebrate the success of Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon. But we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking they're going to solve our unemployment or inequality problems.'"

Comments

who is deciding what is 'needed' here exactly?

[roman_mir]

The markets have decided that iPhones and iPads sell really well, that's all there is to it. Whether there is a "need" for companies similar to Apple - it's up to the markets to decide.

However with every more the governments make sure that there will be no small competition to the large established businesses in any industry. Be it the food and drug industries, be it telcos or utilities (water/gas/sewer/roads/transportation/energy), be it entertainment, be it military, be it MS or Oracle or Apple or Google whatever.

The government implicitly that it wants only the large companies, that's why the interest rates for borrowing are pushed down, so no small business can get those loans and the credit is only available to the ever growing and ever and all consuming government.

The patent and copyright laws, the licensing by all these departments like SEC, FINRA, FDA, FCC, whatever. Everything is done so that there will be no competition.

Try and start your own investment business today, go ahead. Start it from scratch. If you are not already wealthy (like a millionaire), you won't even move past the first hurdles of licensing across all states and you CANNOT ADVERTISE your success, it's illegal in the investment business, it's a direct help to the established businesses.

Don't forget the added costs of things like the Patriot act, where you must be an unpaid spy for the IRS and CIA and FBI, spying on your own clients.

Try and start your own store chain. Try and cut through all the red tape of all the licensing and all the labor regulations. Good luck.

Sure, you can start a software company, your own 'Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net' from your house. Try and sell some of your software though, it's a tossup. You are probably going to be attacked by armies of lawyers based on anything, from patents to copyrights, it doesn't have to be true, but if you become successful enough, they'll "buy you out".