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Apple has chosen to manufacture its sophisticated products in an authoritarian country with command-and-control economy due to that country's efficient 5G and robotics enabled logistics infrastructure, its large capital goods manufacturing base, and that country having already descended the manufacturing experience cost curve, thereby providing a cost-effective hospitable manufacturing climate for multinationals.

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I'm afraid I must disagree with you. Apple made its decision to have Foxconn handle its production in China in 1998-99. 5G, robotics enabled infrastructure and the so called Global Supply Chain did not exist then. China's manufacturing base at that time was much smaller and much less sophisticated then than the U.S. manufacturing base. The big attraction of China for Apple was its low paid unskilled labor at the time. Clyde

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Very good analysis of the multinational corporation. The interpretation of the obscure 19th century California legal case resulting in the designation of a corporation as a person could not be justified by the current “originalist “ interpretation of the constitution. However this same misinterpretation has been magnified by the current Supreme Court originalist majority in giving further “rights” to corporate individuals??? Perhaps the movie “Roller Ball” staring James Cann was prescient in predicting the power of the corporation over the individual.

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Excellent commentary. Another way to look at it is American corporate ties to China are like Europe's pipeline ties to Russia. At a critical point we as a country will regret that we sold our souls to the whims of China's leader.

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Exactly

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