The second U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday ignited some hot topics that are hard to answer. Moderator Candy Crowley asked how Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) could bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S. The hot topic of outsourcing was discussed citing Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as one of the “great American companies” that is creating jobs overseas and not in America.
Crowley asked the question by saying “iPad, the Macs the iPhones, they’re all manufactured in China. One of the major reasons is labor is so much cheaper here. How do you convince a great American company to bring that manufacturing back here?”
Mitt Romney was the first to tackle this question and responded that “First, we’ll have to have [China] play on a fair basis…Second, we have to make America the most attractive place for entrepreneurs, people who want to expand a business, that’s what brings jobs in.”
Romney said that America is not at fault here as China is cheating in this industry.
“We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level,” Romney said, adding, “China’s been cheating over the years.”
He further added that China is cheating by hacking computers, devaluing their currency, and stealing intellectual property.
In response to this, President Obama said that there are some jobs that have left American soil for good.
“Candy, there are some jobs that are not going to come back,” President Obama said. “They’re low-wage, low-skill jobs. I want high-wage, high-skill jobs.”
Obama said that America must invest in advanced manufacturing, and America should always have the best science and research in the world.
He further added that “If we’re adding to our deficit for tax cuts, and we’re cutting investments in research and Science that will create the next Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), create the next new innovation that will sell products around the world, we will lose that race.”
Surely it seems that President Obama and Governor Romney both know and are well aware of Apple’s power for creating new jobs. For now, the jobs are created in China because of cheap labor and cheap manufacturing costs.
