Steven Rattner

Today’s New York Times includes a fascinating detailed look at how Apple gets its iPhones (and other products) manufactured and what the implications of that have been for U.S. jobs (not good, of course). No doubt all of the factors that the Times reports as contributing to the fact that virtually all assembly and manufacturing is done outside of the U.S. are real and contribute to the offshoring. But the key point is really in the 47th paragraph, where we learn that the typical assembly worker in China makes about $1.50 per hour. What American would work for those wages?