North Carolina locals question benefits of Apple's $1 billion server farm

North Carolina locals question benefits of Apple's $1 billion server farm

A new report claims that local residents view Apple's massive data center in Maiden, N.C. has been a "disappointing development" because it has brought just 50 full-time jobs to the area, which is struggling with double-digit unemployment rates.

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I'll bet those 50 employees and their families are happy that server farm was built.

MYmacROX said:

I'll bet those 50 employees and their families are happy that server farm was built.

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Not to mention the construction crews who rely on new developments to keep their jobs.

All-in-all should benefit those that needs a job. And yay' to the server farm.

The local economy has 50 more families spending money at the grocery store and in the real estate market. Do they have economics classes in NC? Why should Apple hire more employees they obviously don't need just to make people happy? And is it their business how much the server farm cost?

Apple isn't responsible for creating jobs. However, people get upset when they see things like taxes and such being altered to attract something of perceived or marketed benefit, and then find that the benefits are not what they expected or were implied. Perception is reality in many peoples' minds. Bottom line, don't set expectations. On a side note, when you give one person (companies are people now in the USA) a tax break, everyone else wants one too (or at least wants something).

XJ-linux said:

Apple isn't responsible for creating jobs. However, people get upset when they see things like taxes and such being altered to attract something of perceived or marketed benefit, and then find that the benefits are not what they expected or were implied. Perception is reality in many peoples' minds. Bottom line, don't set expectations. On a side note, when you give one person (companies are people now in the USA) a tax break, everyone else wants one too (or at least wants something).

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Well here's the thing. There's been a bunch of studies about giving tax breaks to attract business, and the interesting thing to note is it (generally these days) ends up costing the tax payers money. It's not uncommon for companies to fail to live up to their proposed revenue generation/jobs creation/etc. So it would appear that there's no benefit in it. We'll see, I suppose, how well this race to the bottom ends up for all of us.

I think it depends on how many jobs apple said it would bring, NC's Gov is notorious for making deals that seems good in the beginning but end up hurting NC.

Now they're talking about a pretty big solar farm next to the data center...

I live near this location

nickster said:

I think it depends on how many jobs apple said it would bring, NC's Gov is notorious for making deals that seems good in the beginning but end up hurting NC.

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And it's simply bringing more jobs to that very depressed area than 50. All of the jobs that will survive need to be take into account as well. Tax incentives didn't work in favor of the community just down the street at the Dell factory. It's a big empty building now.

I say that 50 jobs for that area is good. It's a very small town.

my feeling is the same for apple as well as many other corporations hoarding cash, do their part and hire more people. Spread just a small percentage all that huge cash reserves around. Maybe hire 80 people instead of just 50. Too many corporations hoarding massive cash reserves.

Groovetube said:

my feeling is the same for apple as well as many other corporations hoarding cash, do their part and hire more people. Spread just a small percentage all that huge cash reserves around. Maybe hire 80 people instead of just 50. Too many corporations hoarding massive cash reserves.

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Corporations hire people when there is a business need, and they spend money when there is a business need. Hiring people for no business reason solves nothing and just creates companies as bloated and indebted as our government is. Corporations are not jobs programs. They can keep whatever they legally earn (and pay taxes on) like anyone else IMHO.

XJ-linux said:

Corporations hire people when there is a business need, and they spend money when there is a business need. Hiring people for no business reason solves nothing and just creates companies as bloated and indebted as our government is. Corporations are not jobs programs. They can keep whatever they legally earn (and pay taxes on) like anyone else IMHO.

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You're absolutely right, corporations don't have any legal obligations to do anything for people whatsoever. It is an entity, who's sole concern is itself, and making money. Here in Canada, our conservative government who ran on lower taxes, basically gave obscene tax breaks to corporations, and told the Canadians they have to wait until the balance the budget before they would get any of the promised tax breaks. At first they said 2014, now I hear 2015/16, but apparently, it may be later than that. The reason given, was corporations were to create jobs. Unfortunately, they haven't, in fact, they have been actually shedding jobs. And why would we expect them to create jobs, in light of the reasons you have given? Corporations are not in the business of serving people. When people benefit from a corporations success, it's merely a side benefit. It will mainly benefit the investors, and it's board first. If it were legal to pay people 1 dollar an hour to make more profits, it would do so (hence off shoring jobs...)

This I believe is what's wrong with our system. Now, I don't for a minute believe in socialism, in the definition most people would see socialism. I strongly believe in capitalism and the ability for people to benefit from their risks and work. But it's badly lop-sided. And to make matters worse, our distatse for governmental interference in business tends to be about not wanting to regulate business, because apparently that's bad for business (good for people). But what really happens, and what we tend to forget, is that government, both democrat and republican (lest I be accused of favoring one side), are made up of vast corporate interests ensuring policy is determined based on benefiting someone else. (see Newt's being paid millions consulting with fannie mae in the years proceeding the meltdown, and of course the obvious, haliburton, and that oh so undermentioned little secret of Rumsfield pushing through approval for his interests in that disaster of a health risk of an artificial sweetener.

Now I don't want to necessarily drag apple in to all this gloomy outlook on business, I think to some degree, they have made more efforts than others, to benefit people. But, they are, after all, a corporation. And sitting on vast cash reserves.

Groovetube said:

You're absolutely right, corporations don't have any legal obligations to do anything for people whatsoever.

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Perhaps they do have a moral responsibility though. One would have thought with a guy like Jobs at the helm Apple would be a better company at this sort of thing but in the end it didn't happen. I think that lack of moral responsibility is what is wrong with our system today. I have no issue with companies making money and the people who make it happen getting rich, I do believe that in the process there should be some thought about those who enable that success to happen throughout the system. I think if more companies thought this way the entire system would run better.

Then again, maybe I'm full of bunk...

Okay, here's a question for those of you dissatisfied with Apple's expansion. Exactly how many jobs does the company need to create before it has met its moral obligation to the community? Someone said 80. Why not 100? Heck, that 100 would double the amount it currently employs, right? But you know, 100 isn't that many when you think about it. Maybe it should add 200 instead. That would be even better. But, you know, Apple does have a lot of cash in reserve. Maybe it should hire 1,000 people to work at the data center.

At a certain point, I'm sure even those of you who think Apple is greedy for “hoarding” cash would agree that it makes no sense to hire a certain number of employees, simply because it would not make good business sense to do so. The question is what number is that? Fifty people may not sound like a lot, but perhaps that's all Apple really needs to run that facility. Given how well Apple is run right now, I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt when it comes to hiring the right amount of people for its data center.

As someone said earlier, Apple is not a jobs program. It needs to be smart about who it hires and how many people it hires so that it remains healthy and profitable. So, yes, in that regard it needs to look out for itself and serve its own best interests. Ultimately, that benefits everyone working there. A bloated, over-staffed company about to go bankrupt doesn't benefit anyone, especially the employees.

Whichever side you come from, every company will look to maximize corporate profits and that might not always mean that the local people will benefit too.

J.Fo said:

Okay, here's a question for those of you dissatisfied with Apple's expansion. Exactly how many jobs does the company need to create before it has met its moral obligation to the community? Someone said 80. Why not 100? Heck, that 100 would double the amount it currently employs, right? But you know, 100 isn't that many when you think about it. Maybe it should add 200 instead. That would be even better. But, you know, Apple does have a lot of cash in reserve. Maybe it should hire 1,000 people to work at the data center.

At a certain point, I'm sure even those of you who think Apple is greedy for “hoarding” cash would agree that it makes no sense to hire a certain number of employees, simply because it would not make good business sense to do so. The question is what number is that? Fifty people may not sound like a lot, but perhaps that's all Apple really needs to run that facility. Given how well Apple is run right now, I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt when it comes to hiring the right amount of people for its data center.

As someone said earlier, Apple is not a jobs program. It needs to be smart about who it hires and how many people it hires so that it remains healthy and profitable. So, yes, in that regard it needs to look out for itself and serve its own best interests. Ultimately, that benefits everyone working there. A bloated, over-staffed company about to go bankrupt doesn't benefit anyone, especially the employees.

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Certainly a valid question and one for which I have no real answer. There are some who would argue that the moral responsibility would begin with even 1 employee and there are those who would argue in the thousands. I think that is the real problem the whole moral responsibility argument, hard numbers.