Patrick McGee - "Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company" | The Daily Show

I’m not entirely sure this chap isn’t Clark Kent.

When the host lets the guest talk, it’s magical

Have Patrick McGee come on the Daily Show once a month to discuss things with Jon, and I would watch every time!

Guy looks like a real life Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire

I don't know if people care about the flip side of the coin. But as a Chinese American, not much in this discussion is new to me. But it frustrates me quite a bit that no effort was made into talking about WHY Apple went to China in the first place beyond the surface level "cheap labor" claims. In the early 2000, dollar for dollar, China had the most educated, most efficient, most disciplined labor force in the world. And that took two decades to create after the end of the Cultural Revolution. You can get thousands upon thousands of young workers to work 12-hour shifts, 6 days a week, 11 month a year nonstop. Even other dictatorship countries could not come close to this level of efficiency. Compared to other developing countries, China also had solid infrastructure (water, electricity, transportation) to facilitate industrial scale productions. Plus all levels of governments were providing all kinds of incentives to foreign factories, from tax deductibles to utility credits, subsidies and education program. It would be outrageous if Apple did not choose China at the time. Before anyone try to blame Apple or China for this. Everyone that ever bought an Iphone in the past two decades benefitted from this system. Incidentally if you look at Apple's effort to move production to India, a lot of the issues are in infrastructure and labor efficiency. The India labor force today is not even as well coordinated as China twenty years ago. Two Points: 1. This type of industrial job is not coming back to the US, unless the US completely restructure its education system and social values. Due to tariffs, some Chinese companies have tried to open factories in the US. I know some people in those factories. The most common complaint is US worker efficiency not salary. Because everyone knew it's more expensive to hire US labors. But they were surprised to find out that Americans labors are operating at about 40-50% efficiency compared to Chinese labors. 2. China will never abandon such a well-oiled global scale production machine. They can change direction and produce different things, maybe trade up to higher end products, but no amount of external pressure is going to make China give it up. Ultimately, if push comes to shove, I think the Chinese leadership would rather ramp up military production and go to war, instead of surrendering China's existing manufacturing infrastructure.

watch it again and again. 6 months later. Buy the book ! It's so worth it.

I'm so glad Jon is back.

Between this interview and Jon's monologue, this might be one of the all-time greatest episodes of the daily show imo

One of the most important books of the 21st century that HAD TO be published. I am glad that Mr. McGee did it.

Now THAT is why Jon is such a great interviewer. He does his research ahead of time, asks poignant questions, and leads the interview without cutting people off or shutting down points they are trying to make. But, I personally think what might be even more important is that he adds some levity and energy, without making it feel like a cheap joke. In an interview like this, so many of the jokes or "outbursts" were not *really* directed at content or character. Like the "We were so close to being best friends!" bit. It's adding something that feels natural and isn't going to insult, offend, or demean.