Economy
The Reuters headline says it all: Apple is worth as much as all euro zone banks.
One U.S. Company. All EU banks combined. That's a hint of the power of America's private industry, which someone on the right who would like to be president might think of trumpeting as a clue to our economic recovery.
William F. Buckley famously quipped:
I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.
I'm not an advocate of corpocracy, but does anyone seriously doubt that Steve Jobs and a handful of folks from Apple Inc. could create more jobs and grow the U.S. economy faster than Barack Obama and the Democrats? Apple and its CEO are far more faithful to promises made to shareholders than is our government and President to promises made to citizens.
Perhaps the authority to regulate interstate commerce should have been omitted from the powers vested in Congress. America's Second Estate, private industry, might have proved a more trustworthy custodian.
Given the present state of affairs, however, is there any way to convince Apple to begin operating banks in Europe...?
"I'm not an advocate of corpocracy, but does anyone seriously doubt that Steve Jobs and a handful of folks from Apple Inc. could create more jobs and grow the U.S. economy faster than Barack Obama and the Democrats? "
Sure. But government has a lot of duties that aren't related to creating jobs. And for what it's worth, most of the jobs that Steve Jobs has created ... are in China.
What's more, Steve Jobs doesn't have to get his major initiatives approved by a bicameral shareholders board that is partly controlled by Microsoft. It's *much* easier to be effective when you don't have opposition.
"Perhaps the authority to regulate interstate commerce should have been omitted from the powers vested in Congress. America's Second Estate, private industry, might have proved a more trustworthy custodian. "
Yes. Self-regulation has proven really, really good for the country. Except when it's almost destroyed us.
Is there any business in the US that is actually self-regulating?
Why are corporations creating jobs outside of the US?
Regulation, state-supported unionism, heavier taxation of exports than of imports: all of these are costs that cannot be ignored by corporations. (Someone else can feel free to add to that list.) Businesses pay attention to economics, because they must. Really, we all must. When we and our politicians ignore economic realities, those grab us and remind us that they are inescapable, just like gravity.
"I'm not an advocate of corpocracy, but does anyone seriously doubt that Steve Jobs and a handful of folks from Apple Inc. could create more jobs and grow the U.S. economy faster than Barack Obama and the Democrats?"
If it were not for Bush v. Gore and the hanging chads in Florida, Apple Inc. might not be where it is today. It might be worth even more, or it might be worth less, this is hard to say and partisans on both sides could make either argument. i.e Gore improves the economy better than Bush and Apple is worth more, or Gore is no longer at Apple and Apple declines, or Gore does worse than Bush and Apple implodes with the economy, or Gore never joined Apple and Apple did better.
Al Gore did join the Apple Board of directors in 2003, and most of the Apple Board is fairly progressive.
On the other hand a good chunk of the Apple jobs are in China, and Apple does not pay a dividend, the shareholders aren't necessarily upset, but one reason Apple is unlikely to pay a dividend is the tax loopholes it has exploited, any money it brought back to pay a dividend would be taxed twice.