Tim Cook: Apple doesn't donate to political candidates and PACs shouldn’t exist

https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-apple-donates-0-to-political-candidates-2019-4

by myinnerbanjo • 7 years ago

111 48 7 years ago

businessinsider.com

caprese• 7 years ago

Doesnt donate to political candidate

Doesnt run a PAC

Doesnt NOT donate to PAC, which can be for any cause or even a political candidate and also anonymous

Cheeseburgers shouldnt exist either, I still eat them

Tomminn• 7 years ago

Okay, so Cook is implying here that Apple's maneuvers are not only restricted by rule of law, but by some underlying ethical principles. This model is bolstered by similar pronouncements he's made on privacy.

Apple is a company that benefits enormously from the intellectual and physical infrastructure of the United States. From this, many onlookers derive the ethical principle that Apple should pay its "fair share of tax".

So Cook's Apple must also have a meta-ethics that somehow judges this is not an important ethical principle.

Part of me wonders if this meta-ethics involves a cost-benefit analysis. And wonders when the rubber hits the road whether Apple's ethical principles actually go beyond the default corporate ethics of maximizing shareholder value within the rule of law.

On the other hand, anyone saying bad things about PACs, and good things about privacy, is fine and dandy with me.

Which means this ad must be made for people like me.

simonh4• 7 years ago

On what basis do you decide that Apple doesn't pay it's 'fair share'? On the face of it they seem to pay a fair bit. They are the largest single tax payer in the world, with a global effective tax rate of 24.6%.

I'm sure there are some ways they minimise their tax bills, but it's not as though they don't pay tax or even pay very little tax overall.

keiferski2• 7 years ago

Apple spent years keeping over a hundred billion offshore in order to avoid paying taxes.

jonathanstrange• 7 years ago

FYI, the article is about political donations by companies and political action committees (PACs), not about taxes.

airnomad• 7 years ago

How little money FAANG spend for lobbying is a compliment to US political system.

Few millions a year for companies doing 10s or 100s billions in revenue, that's really rounding error.

And they would spend more if ROI is there but obviously it is not.

AstralStorm2• 7 years ago

Why is it good when it is effective but relatively cheap?

It says more on US politicians being cheap and essentially easy to indirectly bribe.

threatofrain2• 7 years ago

How does Google and company use their lobbying budget to bribe a politician? Vacation to the Maldives?

rayiner4• 7 years ago

Why would it be cheap if it is effective? It’s a zero sum game and there are intensely competing corporate interests. If it were highly effective, the price would be bid up.

kristianc2• 7 years ago

And they would spend more if ROI is there but obviously it is not.

The revolving door between Google and the government suggests otherwise.

mikojan2• 7 years ago

Apple is great. Thank you, Apple. And thank you, HN, for helping Apple with spreading more facts about Apple.

ulfw• 7 years ago

So Apple doesn't do lobbying? Because that's the same thing basically

AstralStorm2• 7 years ago

No, PAC are direct campaign and committee funds. Apple does spend millions on lobbyists.

simonh4• 7 years ago

Paying politicians (through their campaign funds) because they hold certain views is quite different from trying to persuade politicians of a certain view without giving them a financial incentive.

Furthermore with lobbying the activity is largely in public, while it can be unclear on what basis or understandings direct campaign donations are made.

mikojan2• 7 years ago

Furthermore with lobbying the activity is largely in public

Disregarding popular movements that's not how lobbying works at all. No private special interest group is going to be advertising the many ways in which it is trying to influence a person holding public office. You subscribe to a service providing you with personal data, you attend the same events, you help them. For example by commenting on or even drafting legislative texts.

otalp2• 7 years ago

"Apple CEO Tim Cook will host a fundraiser with House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as the iPhone maker tries to strengthen its relationships with key Republicans" (2016)

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/tim-cook-apple-paul-r...

So much for privacy/environmental sustainability I guess

paxys• 7 years ago

Cook is hosting the fundraiser on his own accord, as Apple does not have a corporate political action committee like Facebook, Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley

GrumpyNl• 7 years ago

When you are Cook and CEO of Apple, there is no such thing as personal.

chrischen• 7 years ago

as the iPhone maker tries to strengthen its relationships with key Republicans

untog• 7 years ago

Distinction without a difference, IMO. It's still very clearly to Apple's benefit.

kristianc2• 7 years ago

"Apple CEO Tim Cook will host a fundraiser with House Speaker Paul Ryan next week as the iPhone maker tries to strengthen its relationships with key Republicans" (2016) https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/tim-cook-apple-paul-r....
So much for privacy/environmental sustainability I guess

Quite, it seems like weasel words.

keiferski2• 7 years ago

I just found this website by googling and thus I'm not sure of its credibility, but if I'm reading it correctly, Apple contributed $1,677,466 and spent $6,620,000 on lobbying in 2018. Seems like that could qualify as a "political donation."

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000021754

Despegar• 7 years ago

Those are from employees of Apple. And I have no problem with Apple lobbying if they're going to lobby for federal privacy legislation that is as strong as GDPR. The ad-tech giants are certainly lobbying to defang it.

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-cal-p...

nagVenkat• 7 years ago

People really don’t know how to read opensecrets info, do they?

rayiner4• 7 years ago

It’s a dark pattern. The page clearly implies that Apple is contributing that money.

wsc981• 7 years ago

Well, the original article states the following:

    - Apple, as a company, does not donate any money to political candidates, CEO Tim Cook 
      said on Tuesday.

    - He also said he doesn't believe that political action committee (PACs) should exist. 
      PACs allow corporations and others to secretly donate large sums to campaigns.

    - While Apple doesn't try to get particular politicians elected, it still spend 
      millions annually on lobbying, records show.

    - Cook explained, 'We focus on policies, not politics.'

I think this is an excellent stance, admirable and more companies (e.g. Google) should follow suit.

viraptor• 7 years ago

We focus on policies, not politics.

I read that as "As long as you vote for what we want, we'll ignore anything else you may be doing". They can't escape politics if they want to influence (inter)national policies.

dragonwriter• 7 years ago

Apple, as a company, does not donate any money to political candidates, CEO Tim Cook said on Tuesday.

Corporate donations to political candidates are bright-line illegal, a (potentially criminal) campaign finance violation, so it would be surprising if Cook said anything else.

He also said he doesn't believe that political action committee (PACs) should exist.
PACs allow corporations and others to secretly donate large sums to campaigns.

This part has the facts all wrong which makes it harder to tell what is actually opposed; PAC donations are sharply limited and disclosed publicly by law, and while corporations can sponsor PACs they can only subsidize their administrative expenses, actual campaign donations cannot come from corporate funds, either directly or through PACs; PACs don't allow corporations to donate, and the donations PACs do make are neither secret nor large sums.)

Independent political expenditures as allowed by Citizens United (either directly by interested entities or by entities that collect donations specifically for that purpose, the latter of which are sometimes referred to as “SuperPACs”) allow secret, unlimited spending to promote or oppose candidates or measures, but cannot donate to campaigns or even legally coordinate with them.

It's not clear if Cook actually opposes PACs or SuperPACs, neither one of which actually matches the description of what the “PACs” he opposes are, or if he opposes some mythical thing which combines some features of PACs (donation to campaigns) with some of superPACs (unlimited quantity, secrecy, ability to use corporate funds for non-administrative functions).

rayiner4• 7 years ago

It’s illegal for companies to donate to political candidates. What’s listed as company contributions in that list is contributions by company employees. Lobbying spending is also not political donations. It goes to lobbyists who represent the company.

What Apple is saying is that it doesn’t have a PAC that raises money from its employees, which is legal.

Tsubasachan2• 7 years ago

Lobbying is not the same as contributing to a political party.

jaabe• 7 years ago

Our of all the tech companies that lobby, I wish Apple did more. They are the only major privacy concerned tech-giant and they produce the least environmentally damaging hardware.

I agree it shouldn’t happen, but if politicians have to listen to money, at least listen to the lesser evil.

vnorilo• 7 years ago

Privacy is a differentiator for Apple. If the regulators forced others to respect it more, it would arguably not be in Apple's best interests.

koliber• 7 years ago

I want to create a lobby group / PAC that will promote the idea and lobby US lawmakers to make lobbying illegal. Once it is successful enough to be unable to do it's job, it will dissolve, distributing its money to pre-appointed charities.

alkonaut• 7 years ago

Is there any megacorp that doesn't do political donations (Neither as a corporation or from upper management) and also has a $0 lobbying budget?

po• 7 years ago

Everyone's favorite bookmarking site likes to call attention to this sort of thing every now and then. It's pretty surprising IMO:

https://twitter.com/Pinboard/status/1120320958382755840

rudiv• 7 years ago

What does the fox say? I want to be President, says he.

Tim Cook: Apple doesn't donate to political candidates and PACs shouldn’t exist

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