Sanders accuses Apple of 'throwing pennies at a housing crisis' it 'helped create'

[crazytown]

Sanders accuses Apple of 'throwing pennies at a housing crisis' it 'helped create'

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday accused Apple of "throwing pennies at a housing crisis" that it "helped create" after the tech giant announced it will spend $2.5 billion on affordable housing in California.

The presidential candidate released a statement ripping Apple's “hypocrisy” and saying he would require large companies to pay “their fair share” in order to make “investments that guarantee Americans affordable housing.”

"Apple's announcement that it is entering the real estate lending business is an effort to distract from the fact that it has helped create California's housing crisis – all while raking in $800 million of taxpayer subsidies, and keeping a quarter trillion dollars of profit offshore, in order to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes," Sanders said in the release.

The Vermont senator in September released his $2.5 trillion "Housing for All" plan, which he says would provide housing for all U.S. residents funded by a wealth tax on the top one-tenth of 1 percent of income earners. Sanders said his plan would address “the twin crises of affordability and homelessness" that "have reached a breaking point.”

Apple announced earlier Monday it would spend $2.5 billion on affordable housing in California to be “part of the solution” to the “unsustainable” direction of housing in the tech organization’s home state. The company will work with the state government to provide the funds.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/468926-sanders-slams-apple-for-throwing-pennies-at-a-housing-crisis-it-helped

See also: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142390574

[Me.]

1. Let's Not Do Anything Then

2.5 Billion will actually be spent, which seems like a lot of money to me, as opposed to pie in the sky trillions that will never materialize

[Cha]

3. Exactly.. it's bizarre!

Kinda what I said, Me

[Me.]

5. Great Minds?

Or does one of us owe the other a coke?

[Thekaspervote]

31. Oh well

[Blue_true]

59. Sort of like Bernie grudgingly backing Hillary's health care effort in 94.

It took until 2010 to get healthcare reform with passage of the ACA. People love to talk about Bernie's grand plans, but how many people suffered from no health insurance for 16 years?

[Rebl2]

12. Agreed!

[Cha]

2. Wow.. Thanks Apple! They're actually doing IT.

I don't have anything nice to say about BS so..

[TexasTowelie]

6. A lot of voters will ask why Bernie hates American business so much?

Bernie's anti-corporate stance isn't going to go over very well with people who get their paychecks from corporations.

[Cha]

9. I know! What are they

thinking? This is $2.5 Billion that is going to be spent on Affordable Housing!

Yes, those whose jobs are with the dreaded Corporations and those who are going to benefit from Affordable Housing! I'm so happy for them!

TexasT

[George II]

14. Business and "Wall Street". Yet, if you look at his Senate financial filings, you'll see....

...that he has more than $1M invested in "Wall Street"!!

[NurseJackie]

40. Not only that... guess who his biggest seller/distributor is for his books.

No, seriously... go on... guess!

[betsuni]

41. Yes, if Amazon is so bad, why sell your books there? Not very ... um ... authentic.

[George II]

52. Is it a river in Brazil?

[TexasTowelie]

4. Another plan that will never be adopted. nt

[ritapria]

7. I read Bernie's statement

He stated that Apple is going into the real estate lending business to the tune of 2.5 billion dollars ...He furthermore asserted that Apple has hid 250 billion dollars in profits overseas to avoid paying US taxes - despite having received 800 million dollars in US taxpayer subsidies ……… Sounds and tastes like a ROTTEN APPLE to me ………

[George II]

15. Apple is investing $2.5B in housing in California. Why is he accusing Apple of "creating"....

...a housing crisis? Does he have anything to justify that claim? I think not.

[Cha]

18. And, $2.5 Billion is now

"pennies"?! Who does he think he's kidding?

[George II]

19. I wish I had $2.5 billion worth of "pennies"!

[Cha]

22. It's so ridiculous to call Billions "pennies"

.. isn't he always railing on Billionaires for being too rich or something?

[LongtimeAZDem]

46. So, Apple has invested 10% of it's profits in affordable housing? Good for them!

[lapfog_1]

8. $2.5B is enough to BUY 5,000 decent 2 bedroom/2bathroom condos

in Silicon Valley. Not super ones, but decent.

Or if you use it as 50% down for the same decent condos... it becomes enough for 10,000 with 30 year mortgages for a couple who each earn around $20 to $25 an hour.

Not bad for a start.

[George II]

10. Not you, but GMAFB! That from a guy who gave all of $18,000 on almost $600,000 income in 2018....

How petty.

[billpolonsky]

11. Crumbs...

Just crumbs.

[George II]

16. More "crumbs" than anyone else, including the one that is bashing Apple for doing this.

[ritapria]

17. It's hardly a crumb

The serial tax cheats at Apple have hidden a quarter of a trillion dollars in profits overseas …. We're supposed to swoon over this cynical publicity stunt ? ………..

[Cha]

20. No it's $2.5 Billion $$$$ which the people who

are going to benefit from the Affordable Housing in California will Very Much Appreciate.

[oldsoftie]

24. Like the crumbs Sanders donated to charity last year? Those crumbs?

[betsuni]

13. Sanders announces his "Housing for All" plan in September and now Apple announces this.

Why doesn't Bernie take credit for it? He could say, see, I introduced my housing plan and everybody said it was radical, but now everybody's following my lead (or something like that). But I guess he decided it was more important to appear to "take on" corporations. No mention of whose ideas these laws are, the ones allowing big business to do what they do.

[sheshe2]

21. I am a tad confused here.

BS wants to tax the rich bigly to help the working class...not a bad idea. Yet! When they, Amazon, puts the money down and therefore makes the run straight to the end zone and makes a touchdown with 2.5 billion before BS was able to enact his "Housing For All" plan he gets angry. He gets angry they preempted him and now calls 2.5 billion 'throwing pennies at a housing crisis'.

SMDH



Thank you Amazon. California is going to need that now more than ever, she is burning and her residents, many of them homeless.

[lostnfound]

37. What's Amazon got to do with this? You mean Apple?

[Blue_true]

60. Apple put the money up.

Amazon is doing something similar in Seattle, but smaller scale.

I get your overall point though. Bernie is good at criticizing and putting out high goal plans, not good at the nitty-gritty details of getting things done.

[Lithos]

23. Oh BS

Apple is a beneficiary of the environment in the Bay Area - the fact they are at least aware of the issue should be encouraged.

The Bay Area represents a very culturally and intellectually diverse area that resulted from the seeds planted in the 1950's (and arguably earlier). The real issue is that the rest of the country denied this opportunity for themselves meaning that all of these creative engineers moved to the Bay Area (and Boston and Austin, etc.). Ever hear of Haight-Ashbury, Berkeley, etc.? This would easily self-balance once the rest of the US caught up.

[emmaverybo]

28. Even earlier. Go way back to founding of Stanford U. Always a hub of innovation in multiple

areas. Very progressive area. Changed dramatically on the economic front. Still, this area, values education over money. True, housing is sky high. Many factors involved.

But right, more than ever, this is a a “culturally and intellectually diverse” part of the nation. What’s needed is exactly this—investment to enable teachers, nurses, artists, working class, elderly, immigrants, students, POC to live here. Ongoing drive to make that possible. Bang up
contribution, Apple. Here’s hoping more will follow.

[oldsoftie]

25. Sorry, Bernie, but Rep Omar just stopped your progress with her remarks at your rally

The tired old song on "Western Imperialism"

[emmaverybo]

26. Bernie runs on anger-fuel. Maybe anger is his inspiration. But so misplaced here. Celebrate

2.5 billion and call it a start rather than demonizing. Then let’s get more corporations to do more.

[comradebillyboy]

27. Apple does a good deed and Bernie is pissed. Pretty strange by my reckoning.

Shouldn't we be encouraging big corporations to be more socially responsible? Big corporations are not going away, capitalism is not going away and our market economy is not going away no matter what Jacobin and DSA and their ilk want. Let's encourage the big companies to be good citizens, it might pay off.

[emmaverybo]

29. Yes! Yes!

[Cha]

32. Excellent point, comradebillyboy!

Apple is helping California with Affordable Housing by giving $2.5 Billion$ and what does BS do?.. he insults them. That's $2.5 Billion more than they would have if Apple hadn't done so.

I'm betting they're are many people who do appreciate it! I know I do.

[myohmy2]

30. who but Bernie...

...would hammer Apple this way,

"...all while raking in $800 million of taxpayer subsidies, and keeping a quarter trillion dollars of profit offshore, in order to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes,"

...'more of the same' will not hold these greedy giant corporations or their 1% owners accountable, but Bernie will...

...all the way with HFA...yeah Bernie!

...

[rainy]

34. big tech moves in displacing low wage earners who still need their jobs

but are now priced out of housing due to increasing rent.
It’s the displacement of lower wage earners after the big tech companies move in causing rent to skyrocket that causes the problem.
Google and Apple choose crowded very hip cities to move into which displaces all the local artist, poets, musicians etc that made the city hip to begin with. Now the cities are a mess with huge housing crisis.

So I too agree with Bernie!!!

[crazytown]

36. "Google and Apple choose crowded very hip cities to move into"

Last edited Wed Nov 6, 2019, 01:34 AM - Edit history (2)

Steve Jobs was a Bay Area native. He grew up near Cupertino, and founded Apple two and a half miles from his childhood home. Apple has been there since 1976.

[rainy]

38. Apples growth in San Francisco has absolutely

displaced the local flare, musicians, artists etc and average every day laborers who worked and lived and thrived in the city. It’s a different city now that those people can’t afford to live there.

[crazytown]

48. And eBay, Facebook, Google, Oracle, Netflix, Paypal, Tesla and Twitter

had nothing to do with what happened? I think it is unreasonable to single out Apple, which has been resident in the Bay Area for 40+ years.

[rainy]

50. It became a tech hub. I never blamed Apple

alone, it’s the tech companies that choose a spot and wreck it for people who have been living and dying there for decades.
It’s like when Vail became a huge ski resort. People who had owned homes their for generations had to leave their paid for homes because they couldn’t afford the taxes.

I’m just saying that the character of a really nice area can be ruined when big corporations take over. Letting the corporations have privileges massive tax breaks and actual subsidies it becomes welfare for big business and cold hard capitalism for the average folks now living in tent cities just to keep their jobs and healthcare. Does that make sense to you?

[crazytown]

51. "Does that make sense to you?"

Yes it does. I have a cousin who used to live in Fremont. I have have visiting the Bay Area since 1985 and I hate the gentrification on gentrification that happened. It's a strange feeling. A lot of it looks the same, but no one can afford to live there anymore.

[Blue_true]

65. One of the problems that I see with the Bay Area

is there was no regional plan for growth that took into account overall livability. That same problem is happening in Florida as areas in the state grow. Each town or county looks just at itself and the state does a weak to non existent coordinating job of inducing regional planning. If a home is within a 30 minute drive of people that work in a bustling area, those people are going to buy homes in that area, I see that near me, where people with high paying jobs in Gainesville are buying nice homes in north Ocala or in Archer or Waldo, all once slower places near Gainesville, that creates massive traffic congestion.

[Blue_true]

64. The image you described happens all over the country.

When a place becomes a popular tourist or recreation stop, or a magnet for entrepreneurs, or a playground for people that have lots of money, housing prices go through the roof. Part of the fault of that should be placed on governments that hand out tax breaks to those with money without having a plan for making life more manageable for those that don't.

[brooklynite]

53. Cities are dynamic. They always will be.

[Blue_true]

66. True, but one problem is city leaders typically do a poor

job of regional planning with their nearby neighbors on issues like affordable housing, roads and public transportation. What happens as a result is unplanned growth, even as local zoning boards supposedly have a handle on growth.

[brooklynite]

69. Agreed: I teach a class on this at NYU

[Blue_true]

63. Apple has been there since the early 70s.

The place still had some of the once numerous fruit orchards still around. Nearby town still were farming communities.

I see some of your point, growing companies should have giving back to the communities that they grow in as part of their business plan. But Apple is taking a step that it does not have to, it should be applauded for that.

[Blue_true]

62. Don't blow of the fantasy of the evil Corp parachuting into happy-land and screwing things up.

Apple was literally started in a garage not far from where it is now. That is the reality. I applaud them for what they are trying to do.

[dalton99a]

49. The phenomenon is being repeated in Austin, Texas

which now has a very visible homeless problem

[Blue_true]

61. Obsurd.

Neither Apple or Amazon were "big tech" when they started out. In fact, BOTH were started literally in a garage. They grew to where they are today in the locations that they started up in.

Were they blind to the developing housing situation around them as they grew? Yes they were, but so was the numerous US government research labs in the area, Stanford University, troves of companies that started out small in Silicon Valley and are now major corporations.

Apple stepped forward with money that it doesn't have to put out there, that should be acknowledged in a positive way with a nudge for them to do more. But they get hit in the mouth, that isn't going to make other big corporations that may be looking at helping with housing want to stick their heads up.

[oasis]

35. "Ev'ry time it rains, it rains pennies from Apples"

[RandiFan1290]

39. Leave the billionaires alone!!!11

[betsuni]

42. But millionaires are okay.

[RandiFan1290]

43. I'm sure they are

but we plan on making them pay their fair share too.

[TidalWave46]

45. Isn't Sanders a one percent earner?

With multiple sweet homes? Doesn’t he rent some out as is his right as a member of the investor class? I think his sweet lakefront pad stays vacant. It’s just a “little” place to get away. Didn’t he start rolling in that level of money after running for higher office?

Leave the one percent earners alone!!!

[Cha]

54. Apple is donating $2.5 BILLION $$$ for Affordable Housing

In California!

It's Great News!! There always has to be someone complaining about it, though

[TidalWave46]

44. Since Sanders has hit the national stage....

It has become more and more clear that he doesn’t have any real intellectual depth when it comes to his core issue. For many voters, his clear lack of depth is now their core issue with his candidacy.

Sanders needs to stick to his stump speech. He is often a train wreck when he does these things.

[Cha]

55. Absolutely.

[betsuni]

56. +1

[Blue_true]

67. Bernie has a burn it down mindset, without thinking deeply with what he will replace it with.

If you listen to or read his ardent supporters, they have the same general bent, "burn it down, then figure things out".

[brooklynite]

47. So, Bernie Sanders is opposed to paying employees a living salary...

....because that's the key issue here. It's not how much of a profit Apple makes, or how much they pay in taxes, it's about the fact that they pay for talent that 1) wants to live in an urban setting (San Francisco vs Silicon Valley) and 2) can afford to buy SF housing at market rates.

[Hav]

57. "Keeping a quarter trillion dollars of profit offshore

in order to avoid paying billions of dollars"

I see that point repeated here several times but why should they? It's profit generated worldwide outside the US. They are creative with their taxing there as well btw but it's not money stolen from the US. They just leave it overseas because they'd lose a buttload of money.

Anyways, no need to bash Apple when it's investing. I guess the recipients will welcome the help even if it's supposedly pennies for some.

[Joe941]

58. Bernie is calling out things that need to be called out.

He impressing more each day.

[Blue_true]

68. I disagree. If you want to know why, I have posted several times in this thread.

Apple is doing something that it does not have to do. IMO, the correct action would be to complement them and nudge them to do more. Senator Sanders kicked them in the rearend.