Macroscope | Apple’s sales warning is a symptom of what’s ailing the US economy

David Brown says amid a shift in global economic power from west to east, the US economy is buoyed by policies that compound its budget and trade deficits. Without a radical overhaul, a downturn in the economic cycle will have a devastating impact

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The world is changing and Apple, a jewel in America’s corporate crown, is feeling the pinch. It is a symptom of the US pricing itself out of world markets. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:00am, 8 Jan 2019Updated: 1:29am, 8 Jan 2019

Last week’s sales warning from Apple is a timely metaphor for what’s going wrong with the global economy right now. It might provide some insight into the world’s two biggest superpowers going head to head, bruising global growth in the process, but the US-China trade spat is only part of the story.

Apple’s fall from grace is a deeper symptom of changing times as the mantle of global economic power passes from old to new.

China is on the way up and, unless US policymakers wake up to this new reality, it could soon be game over for corporate America. President Donald Trump’s vision of “America first” will end up a disastrous folly.

Without a doubt, the world is changing and Apple is definitely feeling the pinch. Apple is one of the brightest jewels in America’s corporate crown but is fast losing its allure.

It is a symptom of the US pricing itself out of world markets as the strong dollar and benign neglect take their toll.

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.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Macroscope | Apple’s sales warning is a symptom of what’s ailing the US economy

Macroscope | Apple’s sales warning is a symptom of what’s ailing the US economy