America’s presidential debate on Tuesday night touched on a few sensitive subjects, including the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs in the Far East, and how the next president can turn the situation around, bringing some of those jobs back to The States.
Moderator Candy Crowley started the fire,
telling the two candidates, “iPad, the Macs, the iPhones, they are all manufactured in China,” acknowledging that low labor costs are at heart
“How do you convince a great American company to bring that manufacturing back here?” Crowley asked, giving Romney the chance to speak first.
The republican said he believed, “The answer is very straightforward. We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level,” noted Romney.
He asserted that “China's been cheating over the years,” adding that it has been doing this in more ways than one.
“One, by holding down the value of their currency. Two, by stealing our intellectual property, our designs, our patents, our technology — there's even an Apple store in China that's a counterfeit Apple Store, selling counterfeit goods.”
Romney even said China hacks into America’s computers, stealing intellectual property. “We will have to have people play on a fair basis,” he said.
The current-acting President of the United States, Barack Obama, had a different approach. Instead of enumerating problems, he insisted that America needs to look at America, not overseas.
“Candy, there are some jobs that are not going to come back,” he said. “Because they are low wage, low skill jobs. I want high wage, high skill jobs. That's why we have to emphasize manufacturing. That's why we have to invest in advanced manufacturing. That's why we've got to make sure that we've got the best science and research in the world.”
It is being speculated in the media that Obama’s talks with the late Steve Jobs are the driving force behind this mindset.
In a legendary interview with All Things D, the CEO described his return to Apple in 1997, saying “Apple did not need to beat Microsoft. Apple needed to remember who Apple was.”
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