Why Donald Trump bests Hillary Clinton on key tech policies

“Solely based on media coverage, you’d think that all of Silicon Valley and the tech world at large was undoubtedly behind Clinton in this critical election. But as has been reported in muted fashion by a few outlets, there is such a thing as the ‘silent majority‘ which is going to surprise many this election,” Derrick Wlodarz writes for BetaNews. ” I’m confident that polls are having a hard time capturing the factor that quantifies this part of the electorate which isn’t being vocal about its Election Day preferences, but will deliver a decisive blow come Tuesday, November 8.”

“I’m a small IT business owner and a decade-long IT pro, and I’m standing with Trump on the issues closest to my heart: technology issues and their related policies,” Wlodarz writes. “From my perspective, if Hillary could not properly handle crucial decision making on critical IT systems handling our nation’s secrets, how would she possibly fare better with such decisions as the leader of the free world? History speaks numbers, and Hillary’s track record with confidential IT platforms is pathetic at best.”

“I’m extremely proud of the fact that I can give jobs to deserving local Americans… As an employer, yes, keeping my payroll full of American-based labor is expensive by every token. I probably could cut labor costs by 1/3 to 1/2 by outsourcing my key positions to H-1B visa holders, or better yet — hiring talent that is based solely overseas. But being a small business owner for some time now has given me considerable satisfaction in the notion that we can make a profit all the while employing local, deserving, and extremely motivated Americans,” Wlodarz writes.

Donald Trump
Donald Trump
“Donald Trump is the one making it very clear that companies taking advantage of foreign labor at the expense of qualified deserving Americans will pay the price. Not only should H-1B caps be lowered, but policies should be enacted that force companies abusing this loophole to pay equitable salaries that are comparable to what they would have paid for hiring local talent — thereby eliminating any financial benefits from this scourge on the IT industry.”

“There is no such thing as the perfect candidate. You’ll never be able to say that the leading candidates check off every box on your mental tally list of policy stances,” Wlodarz writes. ” Yes, he’s said things which are indefensible… [but] I’ve compared, contrasted, and added up the positions which matter most in my eyes, and Trump is the one which stands tall above Clinton on numerous policies — most importantly, tech policy which is near and dear to me both personally and professionally.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Once again: Blessedly, the race for 2016 is almost over! (Even as the race for 2020 has already begun.)

Trump’s corporate tax-cut pitch falls flat in Silicon Valley – August 24, 2016
Activist campaign seeks to shame Apple, other U.S. companies over Trump – June 24, 2016

[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers far too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]


    1. For Silicon Valley and Apple’s Tim Cook, it’s all about H-1B visas and cheap labor – see below). Even though Cook agrees more with Republicans than Democrats on corporate taxation and other issues, he cuts off his nose to spite his face.





      Donald Trump’s official policy:







      1. Since you keep copy/pasting the same message over and over (clear sign of fanaticism: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, let me copy/past mine from yesterday:

        I think many more people would vote for the candidate with that platform than for the current candidate Trump; what he says at rallies, and what is in his official policy are substantially different things. And the main problem for quite many undecided American voters is, which Trump are they voting for? The one they hear at rallies, in tweets, interviews on TV and other appearances, or the one represented by the official positions as outlined on his website (and drafted by his political advisers)?

        Because the Trump from that text above sounds like a proper, no-nonsense Republican; the one from TV sounds like an idiot.

          1. It’s not about whiny. It’s about the undeniable fact that most of his strongest assertions would harm the tech industry. That’s why Silicon Valley is contributing to Hillary over Trump by a factor of SIXTY TO ONE.

            When asked about what the biggest challenge tech firms face in achieving success, the most common answer is federal red tape making it impractical to hire international candidates. Trump has promised to double down on this problem and exacerbate it. A Trump America will be the home of employers of last resort for the smartest people in the world.

      2. It’s all just a giant spectacle now for TV ratings. The very precipice to Idiocracy.

        I’m just ready to laugh at whatever “First 2014, Then 2016” changes their name to next. I offer a few suggestions:

        Lost 2016, Maybe 2020
        Won 2016, wait, we won?! Uh, now what?
        First Republican, Then foraging though post apocalyptic wasteland formerly known as the United States

    2. This is about a set of reasons why the tech industry needs people with the ability to buy their products.

      The average working stiff in this country wants an iPhone.

      The only way a lot of stiffs can get one is if they have more disposable income. Yet the employment as a % of adults and average wage and family net worth have been plunging in the last decade. There was an average 2% drop in US wages in the first 7-8 months of 2016.

      The existing business paradigm set by the government has resulted in anti-business policies which has driven the employment and wage rates down.

      People vote their pocketbook.

  1. The companies that have moved jobs overseas won’t bring them back. They’ll look for somewhere else to put them that keeps their costs at or below where they are now.

    1. True for big companies, Scott.

      But I am doing a startup. Everything has to be local for best control, time to ship and volume adjustments.

      Small startups create most of the new business in the US, not mega-F-500 companies. Hence, government ought to be encouraging startups.

    2. Robotics will shortly allow Apple to economically build iPhones in the US, or anywhere else it decides to. However, while the products will be built in those particular countries, the number of jobs generated will be rather small.

  2. Tim Cook mentioned in an interview that even if Apple wanted to move manufacturing back to the US, they can’t because there aren’t enough engineers in the US available.

    1. With a huge investment in time and money, Apple could conceivably move a substantial amount of its product assembly to the U.S. The increasing amount of automation used in the assembly process would help to mitigate the wage difference because there are fewer labor hours per unit.

      What Apple cannot do is bring it component supply chains to the U.S. Most of the components would still be sourced from Japan, China, etc.

      When people use the generic term “manufacturing,” it is important to understand what they really mean.

        1. Danox, you are the first person to say that publicly!

          China has been tightening the thumbscrews on foreign companies for a long time. Apple and other companies realize they are going to have to diversify out of China which is partly behind Cooks work in India to start manufacturing there.

          Some people have questioned eventual manufacturing in the US even with automation. What people forget is plans for these things go out 10+ years.

          Technology is shrinking not only the number, but the size of components and evolution itself is reducing the # of components as shown by the elimination of a separate audio jack.

          It would not be surprising to see an automated final assembly in the US for iPhones in 5 years.

    2. Is this the same Cook who always says how excited he is with his product pipeline but has spent the last 6 years dribbling out incremental fashion-first releases. Predictable slow late overpriced fashion aimed at novices who compute with emojis instead of mathematics and who are dumb enough to trust the iCloud. This is not the user focused company Apple used to be.

    3. The single biggest reason any company continues to manufacture outside of the USA comes down to:

      SELLING PRICE of their products.

      It would be interesting to investigate the engineers question. But it ends up being a red herring.

  3. What a seriously stupid article to post here. [sigh]

    Boo. Bad judgement, MDN.

    My question is: Why are all the moderate, reasonable Republicans silent while this extremist spreads hate and threatens the legitimacy of our democracy? Are these not the same people who decry the silence of the Moderate Muslims who fail to denounce extremists in their religion? Moderate GOPers can denounce Trump without fear of death and yet they still cower.

    I’m so ready for this election to be over. This country has some serious healing to do once the confetti has been swept up.

    1. I think for them, this is mostly like voting between Hitler and Stalin. And many of them end up rationalising their vote for Stalin as lesser of two evils.

      If we eliminate all the campaign talk and try to assess objectively, Clinton presidency will be pretty much a continuation of the Obama presidency. And the bottom line of the Obama presidency is still a net positive. Seven years of straight economic growth, halving the unemployment rate, highest rate of private sector employment, highest number of deportations of illegal aliens (of any president so far), significant reduction of federal budget deficit, lowest rate of growth of federal spending since Eisenhower, lowest dependency on foreign oil, lowest taxes for 95% of Americans, highers number of Americans with health insurance, fewest number of American servicemen in combat overseas…

      In other words, it isn’t all bad news; it could have been a whole lot worse…

  4. This is not about Apple. It’s a pure political piece without any meaningful technology angle. Can MDN stay focused on Apple news please? Geez, if we’re going to read poorly-reasoned politically-motivated emotionally-laden junk, let’s get back to those silly Apple analysts and the trash-talking Apple competitors. That at least is entertaining.

  5. Do you like working for no money? As a business owner I could never vote for a candidate who sets a precedent for stiffing contractors. It would just truly send the wrong message.

  6. Basically, for a tech site, the answer should come down to this: does the candidate you back believe in science or not. It’s that simple. Do they believe in evidence or do they believe in “feelings.”

    Trump doesn’t believe in climate change (much as Green Party’s Jill Stein doesn’t believe in vaccines). When it comes to judging politicians from a tech point of view, that’s all I need to know.

    1. When anyone makes a statement that a particular scientific question the answer to which cannot be demonstrated by repeatable experiment under controlled conditions – e.g., “anthropogenic climate change,” – is “settled science,” then I know something about that person.

      They know nothing about science.

    2. Glad he doesn’t believe in man made climate change.
      Climate change is very real and its been going on for 100’s of millions of years. Long before man had any influence.
      We are in fact currently in an interglacial warming period of an ice age! Competent science knows this.
      Man made climate change is a hoax, a fraud, a racket. Its criminal !

      Go visit your local museum of natural history to learn the facts about this topic. They know its false !

  7. I don’t see how anyone can reasonably argue against raising H-1B wages to prevailing U.S. rates. It makes no sense. By its nature currently, H-1B allows (really it incentivizes) companies to look somewhere other than the U.S. for those type of workers. It allows them lower costs without the expense of overseas infrastructure needed to support those workers where they come from.

    I don’t have a problem with the reality that some companies have overseas situations because the cost of producing something is lower than here. It’s perfect business sense.

    But… the H-1B situation is absurd. It gives them the benefit of lower wage costs… tied to the benefit of having local workers. Obviously, there is a (monetary) benefit to having those workers locally, otherwise they wouldn’t be here.

    As it stands now, companies with H-1B workers are getting to have their cake and eat it too.

Reader Feedback
