I am not the biggest fan of apple but ever since I was a kid my parents got me iphones so it is just what I am comfortable with. My gf has an android and I can appreciate it is better but I am already so used to iphones I have just stayed with them so far.
If my current iphone gets bricked maybe I'll just make the jump to Samsung.
Why don't you just build it yourself then?
Because of time and experience. I don't have it. I could learn, but I am a professional. I have other responsibilities.
I have never said that I am not willing to pay for my computer. I would very gladly pay the workers who assemble it a fair wage, and I would more than gladly pay for the materials used. But it pisses me the fuck off that I also have to pay for a white guy's mansion.
I really wish my country would just finance a computer assembly corporation that would be self-sufficient. Like, when you buy a computer you pay for all the workers involved so that they all get their wages. And you pay for the materials, so the government can refill their stock with materials to make computers for other citizens. I would LOVE this. This is how an economy is run. Having profiteers at every turn is just cancerous.
Why don't YOU create a computer manufacture that sells 1300$-equivalent computers at 500$. Why would the government have to do that for you? Is it because you don't have time and experience? What makes you think it's possible to manufacture it at less than half the price, then? Could it be that you pulled that out of your ass?
>Why don't YOU create a computer manufacture that sells 1300$-equivalent computers at 500$.
Because I am not a businessman, nor am I particularly knowledgeable in this area.
>Why would the government have to do that for you?
Because I trust the government has the connections and power needed to find someone who is a businessman and who has experience in computers and finance him to kickstart the company.
>What makes you think it's possible to manufacture it at less than half the price, then?
Take a look at this article:
cnbc.com
You don't have to read it though. It says that the iphone 8 costs only 270$ to make but it is sold at 700$. Why? Because poor white guys need your money, they only have 2 mansions! Don't you feel their pain? Let's give them a third mansion to make them feel better :)
>Because I am not a businessman, nor am I particularly knowledgeable in this area.
Uhuh.
>Because I trust the government has the connections and power needed to find someone who is a businessman and who has experience in computers and finance him to kickstart the company.
Except now they don't even need to find anyone. If somone knows how to sell hardware this much cheaper, they can and they will. You, by your own admission, aren't even educated in the field, so what makes you think you're qualified to even propose solutions?
>msnbc article
It's common knowledge apple products are overpriced and there multiple cheaper alternatives. Nobody forces you to suck apple dick for fucks sake. The reason apple gets away with selling overpriced shiny round toys isn't because they are evil capitalists, it's because people want them.
>If somone knows how to sell hardware this much cheaper, they can and they will.
Except it is not that easy. Current capitalism would not allow for this kind of altruistic corporation to survive. The corporation I am talking about is one that literally does not make profits. It makes 0$ a year. It is a corporation where the owner would set a salary for himself and every product, and then sell at a price that would precisely pay those wages. No business would do this on his own.
Capitalism has made the act of starting a business a kind of olympic sport where you need to jump through a bunch of hoops designed by the top 1% to keep the rest of the population in line.
But the government could provide many advantages:
1) Initial financing
To start a company you need investors, who will demand a cut of the profits. But what if you do not make profits? Then no investor will give you money. This means you would have to start the company on your own dime, which doesn't make sense because you will never make that money back. But... wait! The government has a shit ton of money in the form taxes! They could finance you instead! Easy peasy, problem solved.
2) Safety net
When corporations start doing badly they typically get pumped with money by investors to make radical moves that could save the company. But if a company has no investors this means that the moment the company's production starts slowing down, it dies. But in this case, the government would pump money in whenever necessary, like the government already does with social programs.
3) Incentives.
There is 0 incentive to start a 0-profit company, what if the government runs it? That means the CEO of the company would be a government official. They would get political power. They would attend meetings with the powerful people of the country. They would get the status and power of a top class politician. Plus the salary the government will pay them. Now, that's some fucking incentive.
4) (cont.)
4) Fight the competition
If a 0-profit company started existing, it would pose a threat to the corrent moneywhore capitalists, who would immediately try to derail and attack it. Perhaps by using their already established brand recognition + some dirty price gauging to ensure no one buys computers from the new company. Then they wait for the company to die, and then they hike the prices up again.
The government would provide both legal help and financial help in this case. If, say, apple tries to play dirty, easy! Assassinate the CEOs and investors for treason. Easy peasy.
>Nobody forces you to suck apple dick for fucks sake.
But if I don't suck their dick, the other options are going to someone else and sucking their dick. There is no winning here.
Let me preface with the fact that taxes aren't a magical well full of money, they come exactly from people making profit one way or another.
1) Save up for 20 years. Taxes is other people's money too.
2) You shouldn't be doing badly if you're selling computers at madly low prices.
3) If you think incentives for this kind of things are necessary, add 20 bucks on top of the 500, it's still way better than 700 or political power over hardware. This kind of institution would be prime for all sorts of backdoors & governent surveilence crap.
4) Sure the big guys will try to either beat you down or buy you, but they would try to buy the gov CEO too, and in the end, if people keep buying your product, you should be fine. If they drive their prices down to compete with you, you've already won.
Yeah there is... change the value of a cent.