Apple, others urge presidential candidates to support Trans-Pacific Partnership, address government

Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2016
Apple and a cadre of Silicon Valley heavyweights have plans to issue a nonpartisan letter urging the next U.S. president to back the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, a policy that would make hiring foreign workers a low friction process.




According to Reuters, which saw a copy of the document, the interests of tech industry giants Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Uber and others are being represented by 13 industry groups. The Internet Association, Telecommunications Industry Association and Information Technology Industry Council are among the letter's signatories.

Covering a dozen trade policy recommendations, the open letter is directed at presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, both of whom have not adopted TPP as part of their political platforms.

As noted by the publication, Trump's campaign is anchored by hardline immigration policies, though he appears willing to make concessions for highly skilled foreign workers. Clinton's stance is proactive by comparison, with the former secretary of state promising to increase the number of visas for qualified applicants. Neither Trump nor Clinton have taken a definitive position on TPP, which was signed in February but has not yet seen implementation.

In addition to trade agreements, the letter also asks for "narrowly targeted government access to user data" and recognition of consumer privacy issues, specifically that encryption be deemed a "critical security tool." Apple was recently involved in two high-profile court cases after resisting FBI warrants for assistance in accessing passcode-locked iPhones. The legal battle sparked a contentious debate over encryption rights.

Other topics addressed in the document include online censorship, a call to back the so-called "sharing economy" and tax issues.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters the letter is the first to represent a wide range of tech industry interests on a single platform during a presidential campaign. The document will officially make its way to campaign runners later on Wednesday ahed of the July convention season, and months before the general election in November.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    Right, highly skilled foreign workers. That is exactly what I think of when I work with H1-B visa holders. The O1 visa was actually for highly skilled foreign workers. The H1-B program has been bastardized to no-end by corporations to leverage cheap labor.

    http://www.o-1artistvisa.com/h1b-vso1-visa/:

    "In order to obtain an O1 visa, you must fall under the category of possessing “extraordinary” talents, illustrated through evidence such as receiving nominations or awards, scholarly publication or being recognized by the media or press. Contrarily, in order to obtain an H-1B visa, you do not have to show evidence of possessing exceptional ability in a field, but instead, you are employed to work in the U.S. temporarily in a “specialty” occupation. Specialty occupations are typically jobs in fields such as business, engineering, and math. Normally, you are also required to have received at least a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent"
    ronnbaconstangboopthesnoot
  • Reply 2 of 20
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    This is one thing that could eventually have me buying hardware other than Apples.    I really think they need to reexamine their behavior here, the H1-B visa program has had a terrible impact on all workers in America from the lowest right up to highly skilled professionals.    We need to get the economy back on track (it is way off track at the moment) and worry about foreign workers when there is an actual shortage of qualified individuals in this country.   As it stands now the only thing H1-B is doing for America is lowering everybody's standard of living.
    ration albaconstangtallest skil
  • Reply 3 of 20
    I think that until we as Americans start actually caring about our education system the problem of getting "cheap" labor from other countries will only increase.  In my opinion all we are doing now is giving lip service to the problem and not doing anything to fix the issue.
    chasmration albaconstangdysamoria
  • Reply 4 of 20
    jasenj1jasenj1 Posts: 923member
    No. No. No.

    The TPP may be good for multinational corporations, but it is bad for the country and its citizens.
    edited May 2016 ronnbaconstangirelanddysamoriaxamaxicoco3boltsfan17tallest skil
  • Reply 5 of 20
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    I think that until we as Americans start actually caring about our education system the problem of getting "cheap" labor from other countries will only increase.  In my opinion all we are doing now is giving lip service to the problem and not doing anything to fix the issue.

    What does the educational systems have to do with this?????    Seriously dude people are being fired form jobs for nothing more than to make room for low wage H1-B workers.   This isn't about filling jobs that employers can't find workers for, which by the way has been complete bullshit.   It is about displacing American workers in jobs with imported labor.    

    This has many negative side effects for the country as a whole.   For one there is the obvious problem of getting fired for no good reason and being put in a bad financial situation.   This has a profoundly negative impact on the community and effectively lowers everybody's standard of living, even if not directly employed by the company laying people off.  One only has to look at communities where massive layoffs have happened to se the truth in that statement.

    In any event I really can't see the reason to try to link this issue to our educational system.   People are being graduated at high rates in the comp-sic fields in this country, qualified people aren't the problem.   However what we are starting to see is people basically saying FU to these big businesses and looking elsewhere for work.  Even if that means leaving the tech industry for something more rewarding and maybe not at the mercy of belligerent management.
    ronnjasenj1icoco3
  • Reply 6 of 20
    A very little known fact is that, unlike their American counterparts, these foreign H1-B workers have no student loans to repay -- because their tuition was virtually free.
    I can't fathom the reaction of some people to Bernie's free college plan. They seem to think it's impossible, unrealistic, unreasonable -- yet that's how the rest of the world operates. Because at the end of the day this is just money invested into the future of the country, and it benefits everyone. Sure makes a lot more sense than pissing it away waging war with the wrong country.
    baconstangpropodMacProlatifbpsingularityrayborcfabadmonk
  • Reply 7 of 20
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    I think that regardless of who the next President is, TPP is DOA. 'Apple is Silicon Valley heavyweights....' can suck it on this one. 
    baconstangireland
  • Reply 8 of 20
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member

    I don't know what you're all complaining about, at least the US gets *something* out of the TPP. Two groups come out ahead: American corporations, and China. China because they have lots of cheap labour that this allows them to sell to others parties to the partnership, and American corporations because they can exploit said cheap labour, and sell their products to everyone else.

    The rest of us are screwed. Sure, maybe a couple of us will get to go work in the US, but as a whole we get screwed.

  • Reply 9 of 20
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    TPP is one of the worst agreements I've ever heard of. Some of the things in it are mega scary. It gives corporations way to much power. Surprised Apple are for this. A similar agreement is happening between EU and US right now and French President looks like he's going against it—thank God. I think the agreement is one of the reasons why 500,000 French just protested in Paris.
    edited May 2016 fotoformatfucappleicoco3rcfa
  • Reply 10 of 20
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    You might want to actually read the TPP in-depth before whining how bad it is for America.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    I think that until we as Americans start actually caring about our education system the problem of getting "cheap" labor from other countries will only increase.  In my opinion all we are doing now is giving lip service to the problem and not doing anything to fix the issue.
    Education is a problem in the USA, but it isn't the problem of this topic. The problem here is corporate greed. Corporations want cheaper labor to have higher profit.

    The TPP is a disaster for societies and a boon to corporations that have no loyalty to any nation at all, including the one they are founded and located in. The TPP will give corporations power they don't deserve over governments that might want to curtail their actions for the betterment of their societies. 
    cnocbuircfa
  • Reply 12 of 20
    coolfishcoolfish Posts: 27member
    You might want to actually read the TPP in-depth before whining how bad it is for America.
    Right. Read a secretive treaty that hasn't been made publically available, save for whistleblower leaks, that's full of complex legal jargon written by corporate lawyers who are doing everything they can to change laws so that they can maximize profits.

    But noo, trust the government, they're going to do everything they can to make life better for you. Apple and other multi conglomerates have nothing but YOUR best interests at heart. What's good for GE is good for America. And Canada. And The EU. AMAZING.

    edited May 2016
  • Reply 13 of 20
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    coolfish said:
    You might want to actually read the TPP in-depth before whining how bad it is for America.
    Right. Read a secretive treaty that hasn't been made publically available, save for whistleblower leaks, that's full of complex legal jargon written by corporate lawyers who are doing everything they can to change laws so that they can maximize profits.

    But noo, trust the government, they're going to do everything they can to make life better for you. Apple and other multi conglomerates have nothing but YOUR best interests at heart. What's good for GE is good for America. And Canada. And The EU. AMAZING.

    Mindless shill.


    Before hurling insults you might want to read posts from people you insult going back a few years.    You just insulted one of the best 'minds' on AI.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    semi_guysemi_guy Posts: 64member
    Every day I see high tech companies laying off highly skilled american citizens and then turning around and replacing them with recently graduated students from other countries. Not only replacing experienced workers with inexperienced ones, but also replacing with some poorly educated in the engineering field. There are certainly some bright and well educated ones, but the many have very little understanding of basic engineering and scientific knowledge.  The american managers get big bonuses for saving costs, so they are highly incentivized to continue this practice. These managers use the excuse that there are not enough engineers in the US, and continue to request more visas. 

    What happened to hiring the best for a company? I can understand hiring non-citizens because they have skills not present in the US workforce, but this rarely happens.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    wizard69 said:
    I think that until we as Americans start actually caring about our education system the problem of getting "cheap" labor from other countries will only increase.  In my opinion all we are doing now is giving lip service to the problem and not doing anything to fix the issue.

    What does the educational systems have to do with this?????    Seriously dude people are being fired form jobs for nothing more than to make room for low wage H1-B workers.   This isn't about filling jobs that employers can't find workers for, which by the way has been complete bullshit.   It is about displacing American workers in jobs with imported labor.    

    This has many negative side effects for the country as a whole.   For one there is the obvious problem of getting fired for no good reason and being put in a bad financial situation.   This has a profoundly negative impact on the community and effectively lowers everybody's standard of living, even if not directly employed by the company laying people off.  One only has to look at communities where massive layoffs have happened to se the truth in that statement.

    In any event I really can't see the reason to try to link this issue to our educational system.   People are being graduated at high rates in the comp-sic fields in this country, qualified people aren't the problem.   However what we are starting to see is people basically saying FU to these big businesses and looking elsewhere for work.  Even if that means leaving the tech industry for something more rewarding and maybe not at the mercy of belligerent management.
    Exactly...and here is interesting reading that confirms what you said.

    In a second round of layoffs, that were halted.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/us/in-turnabout-disney-cancels-tech-worker-layoffs.html?_r=0

    Lawsuit surrounds the Jan 2015 layoffs.
    http://www.computerworld.com/article/3026332/it-outsourcing/disney-it-workers-allege-conspiracy-in-layoffs-file-lawsuits.html

    http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/24/laid-off-disney-worker-will-tell-congress-disney-is-not-an-anomaly/



  • Reply 16 of 20
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    A very little known fact is that, unlike their American counterparts, these foreign H1-B workers have no student loans to repay -- because their tuition was virtually free.
    I can't fathom the reaction of some people to Bernie's free college plan. They seem to think it's impossible, unrealistic, unreasonable -- yet that's how the rest of the world operates. Because at the end of the day this is just money invested into the future of the country, and it benefits everyone. Sure makes a lot more sense than pissing it away waging war with the wrong country.
    Bernie's plan is unrealistic and free is a relative term. Nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it. You can't compare how the rest of the world operates. We are much different compared to European countries with free college tuition. For starters, people in Europe are paying a lot higher income taxes than us. College enrollment percentages in Europe are way lower than the U.S. That makes a huge difference with us having so many more people going to college. Plus, what Bernie is proposing to pay for free tuition won't work and that's already been proven. Sweden tried a financial transaction tax in 1984, which was a big disaster. Between 90%-99% of traders in bonds, equities and derivatives moved out of Stockholm and went to London. That same thing would happen here in the U.S. 
    edited May 2016
  • Reply 17 of 20
    poksipoksi Posts: 482member
    TTIP is dicatorship of corporations that make their own laws and get compensated by tax payers money if they don't make enough profit, where 'enough' is defined by themselves, It's true form of fascism. Purest.
    tallest skil
  • Reply 18 of 20
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    As long as "Corporations listed at US stock exchanges reporting high profits" is equated in politics with "the US economy is doing great" there will be no real change.

    The game is the same all over the world: unpatriotic, international megacorps earnings define policy at the detriment of small businesses, local economies, the people and the environment.

    These trade agreements e.g. would destroy local, environmentally appropriate farming and replace it with cheaper factory farm imports, even outlawing country of origin designations, leaving the consumer powerless due to being uninformed.

    TPP and TTIP are the spawn of corporate hell.
    tallest skil
  • Reply 19 of 20
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Apple, you can go fuck yourselves on this one. 

    Protectionism or bust. 
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