How Much Would an Apple iPad Cost if it Weren’t Made by Suicidal Slaves in China?

Cross-posted at UNCOVERAGE.net

Let’s continue last week’s discussion of the suicidal slave-workers of Foxconn in China who are contracted to make Apple iphones and iPads.

Trending: The 15 Best Conservative News Sites On The Internet

My gradually-evolved contention [I agreed with it when it was passed during the Clinton administration…I admit that.] is that “free trade” with third-world countries like China is a bad thing for Americans for the following reasons:

1. American manufacturing jobs have disintegrated or been shipped overseas because we are in a “no-win” competition with slave labor

2. The idea that Americans are now so hooked on cheap prices from slave-made goods means we can never go “back” to a more-protected economy.

3. All the well-intentioned blither-blather about “human rights” that I hear so many Americans pretending to care about MEANS NOTHING if we blindly buy products made by slaves.



An interesting article from Stone Street Advisors via Zero Hedge has figured out the cost/profit margin of iPad 2 comparingChinese labor versus “Made in America.”

The take-aways:

An Apple iPad 2 currently sells for $729. Its actual cost to make with FoxConn Chinese workers [who make a whopping $185 / month AFTER their big 30% pay-raise] is $292.77 which means a gross margin of 54%. If made in the U.S. the same iPad2 would cost $617.77 to make, thus a gross margin of 15.25%. To keep the same 54% margin, the “Made in America” iPad would cost $1,144.02.

Questions to ponder:

If Apple would forsake its slave laborers and manufacture iPads and iPhones in the good old U.S. of Obama, would you pay the higher price?

Would Apple consider a lower profit margin to lower the price a little?

If you are an Apple shareholder, do you ONLY care about the uptick? Really? Why?

Read it all here.

…….and while you are thinking about what you are willing to pay for American-made goods (and by American, I do not necessarily mean union-thug labor, just AMERICAN) think about why so many [17 in the past few years] FoxxConn workers committed suicide that they now have special company policies and suicide netting around the building, all so that they can get your iPad exactly when you want it.

Think what “free trade” really means. #NOT WINNING.



