Monday, December 13, 2021

should my next computer be another iMac?

This headline gives me pause:

Apple Gives $275 Billion to China

Excerpt:

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, according to secret documents reportedly seen by The Information, inked a $275 billion giveaway in 2016 that explains the tech company’s success in China.


The Chinese market is no small part of Apple’s current approximately $3 trillion market capitalization. This makes it the world’s biggest company. So the Apple CEO could be incentivized to give away its technology and ignore [human-rights] abuse to maximize his bonuses in the short term while not only selling out Apple shareholders, but American democracy to boot.


What did Apple give away to maintain its access to the Chinese market back in 2016, after Chinese authorities were angry about Apple not doing enough for China’s economy and shutting “down iTunes books and movies in April 2016,” according to the report’s source?


To sweeten negotiations, the Apple CEO apparently agreed to a $1 billion investment in Didi Global, Uber’s Chinese competitor, at a critical time in the two companies’ fight for [ride-hailing] market share in China.


A few days later, Apple agreed to spend $275 billion in China over five years, including on what should be considered forced technology development and transfer.

I thought Google was bad for helping China build its Great Firewall ("Don't Be Evil," my ass). I generally like Apple products, but maybe the time has time to boycott the company. Apple speaks Marxist wokeness out of one side of its mouth while acting like the dirtiest of dirty capitalists, getting in bed with China. And liberals love their Apple products, despite their avowed anti-corporatism. Just as they love their Starbucks. Hypocrisy all around.



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