Why don't we nationalize Apple corporation?

So that it can't make money of poor students and the government gives free McBooks and IPhones.

Good idea

It wouldn't take long for Obama running Apple until we would be talking into real bricks.

REVENUE for AMERICANS, for AMERICA? NO WAY-- neither party wants REVENUE!

We should storm Apple HQ with torches and pitchforks.
Wait, I think they have an app for that.

That's not a bad idea. Apples products suck, are overpriced 2-3x over, and are made in sweatshops by corporate slaves. So much for minimum wage passing the extra costs along to the consumer, huh cons?

Like everything the government does, price would go up and quality would go down.

I think in their heart of hearts our "liberal" friends KNOW they'd only kill it off if they did that. Not that they wouldn't like to nationalize everything that moves, THAT'S fershure!

Do you know why Apple can sell its product for so much? Their products are highly differentiated.

Take a PC and a Mac, for instance. Try to pick two which present similar features -- i.e., similar graphic qualities, similar RAM, similar hard drive, etc. Rightly or not, people consider that these two products are not perfect substitutes for one another, that a Mac has an edge, even when they present comparable features.

Does Apple take advantage of poor students? No. They could as well buy other stuff which runs cheaper. There are substitutes, though they are not perfect. As economists like to say, you'll pay the cost of your inelastic demand if you profoundly wish to stick to Apply products -- i.e., if you can't accommodate yourself of something else, prepare yourself to accept the prices even when they run high.

As for those who claim that they're "over-priced", they are priced by a market. Some people DO consider that they're worth what they are being sold for because, obviously, they buy it when they could buy something else. As I said, it can be in effect a very dumb decision -- they can privilege it, rightly or not. In a sense, though, even if it could turn out that they are not buying a product of greater quality, luxury products come with a certain status -- i.e., you look good when you buy the brand new iPhone -- and that also might have some value in the eyes of people… What is a "right price" is a highly debatable issue.

Really?

Name one time when the government ever did something that private industry does and do it more cheaply.