Apple destroyed the economy of Finland?

[Gail]

Have a boo at this:

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/apple-finland-nokia_n_5977980.html

[phkrause]

What a joke

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

they gotta blame somebody!  

[joeb]

Is it a fact that the destruction of Nokia has created a large increase in the unemployment rate in Finland?  Yup.  Is citing the cause of that "blaming" someone, or just a statement of fact?  

 

MS has had a big hand in this too.  They laid off 12,500 people after they bought what was left of Nokia.  In a country with a smaller population than New York City (5.4 million compared to 8.5 million) these are huge job losses.  

 

I guess the destruction of some other country's economy doesn't mean much to us.  I wonder what would be said here if our official unemployment rate was north of 17%.  I guess no one here would have anything to say about what destroyed our economy.  Right?  Who would care if approximately 1 out 5 people here were unemployed?  I'm sure we would scoff at anyone who laid "blame" at the causes of the destruction of our economy.....  

 

Sorry, rudywoofs,  but it just really irritates me when I see so little compassion for an entire nation of people who have had their economy destroyed by forces outside of their control.  

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Finland is not on the brink of insolvency.  They have a very healthy trade in forestry and related products, as well as a plethora of mineral-related products.  Even if they *had* put all their economic eggs in the Nokia basket, that would not make Apple the reason for the Nokia-related unemployment rate; rather, it would be poor fiscal management.

 

But feel free to believe what you wish....  

[Sojourner]

Friends of mine run a mobile (cell) phone store in the shopping mall, approximately 50% of their business is iPhones, around 40% is Samsung with the Galaxy being the most popular and the remaining 10% is shared by Nokia and others. 

The fact is that its not just young people that expect to have a touch screen phone. If Nokia cannot move with the times, then companies like Samsung will take their place, such is the way of Capitalism and free will choice to purchase what you want! 

[joeb]

Finland is not on the brink of insolvency.  They have a very healthy trade in forestry and related products, as well as a plethora of mineral-related products.  Even if they *had* put all their economic eggs in the Nokia basket, that would not make Apple the reason for the Nokia-related unemployment rate; rather, it would be poor fiscal management.

 

But feel free to believe what you wish....  

Actually, the forest products industry in Finland has taken a huge hit in the last few years.  One of the leading products the Finns made was paper, and paper sales are way down.  

 

I guess I don't get your reasoning per Nokia.  The Finns didn't "put all their eggs in one basket" with Nokia.  Nokia just happened to have a huge share of the European cell phone market share.  What was Nokia supposed to do?  Refuse to grow so they wouldn't become a big company and hire a lot of people in Finland?  Were they supposed to know that Apple would come out with the iPhone and destroy their market share?  

[Tom Wetmore]

But isn't that just how capitalism works? Fortunes come and go. Big business is competition. Not everyone gets to be the winner.

[phkrause]

Exactly Tom

[Gail]

But isn't that just how capitalism works? Fortunes come and go. Big business is competition. Not everyone gets to be the winner.

 

Yes, that is how it works. That is the reason I don't like the game of Monopoly. The object of the game (and the concept) is to make you the winner, too often at the expense of others.

[joeb]

Of course this is how capitalism works in a sinful world.  As bad as it is it is much better than any of the alternatives.  However, that doesn't mean there shouldn't be compassion towards those on the losing end.  It also doesn't mean that those who aren't affected should in essence mock those whose lives are being negatively affected and say they just a bunch of losers who made bad decisions.   I'd say there is no place in Christianity for that kind of attitude.  

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

joeb, the whole article was about how Apple supposedly destroyed Finland's economy all by itself.

 

That was a ludicrous comment.  One company (not the giant Microsoft -- just Apple) singlehandedly destroyed the whole economy of a nation?  I don't buy it.

 

The issue has nothing to do with whether I or others feel badly for people who may have lost their jobs.  In fact, you are making a judgment call that we have mocked the unemployed.  Where do you get off doing that?  Nobody here mocked the unemployed.

 

How about showing your fellow C/A members a bit of respect and not accuse them of something that wasn't done?

[fccool]

Of course this is how capitalism works in a sinful world.  As bad as it is it is much better than any of the alternatives.  However, that doesn't mean there shouldn't be compassion towards those on the losing end.  It also doesn't mean that those who aren't affected should in essence mock those whose lives are being negatively affected and say they just a bunch of losers who made bad decisions.   I'd say there is no place in Christianity for that kind of attitude.  

 

I'm not sure what the bias against the capitalism is here, since capitalism is only a label we put on an aspect of economic system that's there in some form or shape in all commercial human relationships, be it barter or monetary.

 

The responses on this thread merely point out that Apple doesn't corner market on digital devices.   It just creates marketing campaigns that makes it seem so   Apple is "designer electronics" in a nutshell.  A gucci of the electronic world.  That's all it is.