Obama calls Steve Jobs' success a prime example of American wealth

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
During a speech Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama referred to Apple CEO Steve Jobs as an example of the "American dream" and one whose wealth should be celebrated.



Obama made the comments in response to a reporter's question, Cnet reports.



"What is...a fact is that people in the top 1 percent, people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent, or one-hundredth of 1 percent have a larger share of income and wealth than any time since the 1920s," said Obama. "Those are just facts. That's not a feeling on the part of Democrats. Those are facts."



"And something that's always been the greatest strength of America is a thriving, booming middle class, where everybody has got a shot at the American dream. And that should be our goal. That should be what we're focused on," the President continued. "How are we creating opportunity for everybody? So that we celebrate wealth. We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products. We expect that person to be rich, and that's a good thing. We want that incentive. That's part of the free market."



Obama met with Jobs in October to discuss "American competitiveness and education" with him. According to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, the President was "eager" to talk to Jobs.



Jobs recently made Forbes magazine's annual list of the wealthiest Americans, climbing one spot to 42nd place. As of September, when Forbes calculated its results, Jobs' estimated net worth was $6.1 billion, up from $5.1 billion in 2009.



Most of Jobs' wealth comes from shares of Walt Disney Co. that he received when the media conglomerate acquired Pixar in 2006. Disney shares recently hit a 52 week high of $38.



Shares of Apple have also climbed as of late, passing the $300 mark in October. The Cupertino, Calif., company made news this year when it passed up Microsoft in terms of market capitalization to become the world's largest technology company. In September, Apple overtook PetroChina Co. to become the world's second largest company by market value.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 136
    Obama likes Apple? Apple now officially doomed.
  • Reply 2 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    Obama likes Apple? Apple now officially doomed.



    read closely... he likes Steve Jobs..... lol....



    mayb i am misreading, but i didn't see Obama liking Apple ever mentioned







    what Steve has should pretty much be the cap for modern executives... i mean he has launched ipad and iphone/itouch and worked a lot on making them..... probably more than most executives do..... like a few 100% times more
  • Reply 3 of 136
    Maybe Obama forgot that Apple products are assembled using outsourced manufacturing jobs. The unions might not be too happy about that.
  • Reply 4 of 136
    Sorry, but doesn't Apple pay Jobs $1 a year? And don't they owe him money that he hasn't even claimed?



    We didn't praise wealth from the 1910's to the 1980's with tax rates for the wealthy between 60 and 90%, but how many greats can you think of from that time?



    Science can show that money can't be thrown at something people to make them produce more. They do it because they want to, but also because they can.



    When Steve started Apple he said it was spiritual, not business. And not tax breaks "incentives".
  • Reply 5 of 136
    Obama doesn't realize that 'The American Dream' for many people is...........JUST TO HAVE A JOB!!!!

    Obama's just trying to stroke APPLE to get on the good side of people. Well it won't work.
  • Reply 6 of 136
    Obama's at it again...hinting to Steve to share some of his wealth to fund his next election campaign.
  • Reply 7 of 136
    Amazing how pessimistic and negative this thread has become and it's just started.
  • Reply 8 of 136
    Steve Jobs is about true innovation and creating value, in many ways. Sure, he's not perfect, but the innovation and creating value is what is absolutely critical for the USA in a global economy... Not shifting around trillions of "nonreal money" in the corrupt and flawed financial system.



    I tell you now, Americans, if there are just 5 other American companies that have done what Apple has done, your company, the USA, will be much better off in the global market.





    Sent from Snootyville

    10 posts more to 6,000!

    muah ha ha ha ha ha
  • Reply 9 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by simtub View Post


    Obama's at it again...hinting to Steve to share some of his wealth to fund his next election campaign.



    I'm afraid Obama won't make it another term. It concerns me somewhat, but the election will probably see-saw over the next 10 years, depending on how soon the *real recovery* happens.
  • Reply 10 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nicolbolas View Post


    what Steve has should pretty much be the cap for modern executives...



    Would you mind explaining that?



    And also what gives you or anybody else the right to impose such a limit on a private citizen?
  • Reply 11 of 136
    Well, if you think about it, SJ is rich not only because he can focus teams at Apple into creating great products, but also because of the massive wage difference between China and the US.



    50 years ago, if SJ did something similar, the trickle-down effect within the US would be order's of magnitude greater, because he would have to actually manufacture the devices largely within the US [so he wouldn't be as wealthy, but a whole bunch more American's would have pretty good paying jobs].



    Think of the pile being the same, just more spread out over more people.
  • Reply 12 of 136
    America can't be recovered without at least another 50 years of work. Bush fucked you all real good and Obama just continues the trend. Not to mention that the people are locked into 1984 surveillance, manipulated by the media, and willing to stampede someone's grandmother over a TV that's 10% off during Black Friday.



    In other words, they can vote for Obama, Palin, Paris Hilton -- it doesn't matter. You're fucked unless there's a complete overhaul and the vast majority of people lack the intellectual capacity to enact that anyway. If anyone does begin a coup it will be rednecks with guns and Bibles -- and teabags. Have fun.
  • Reply 13 of 136
    bwikbwik Posts: 565member
    So, beleaguered Apple Computer finally makes good. World's #2. Not too bad. Also impressive, Steve's side project made him more money than Apple.



    If Steve had worked his options a little better like Larry Ellison, he be up there above $40B easily.
  • Reply 14 of 136
    Why does someone need 40 Billion dollars anyways? I mean seriously what's the point? You can never spend it all and in fact you're probably hampered more by that wealth than actually helped by it.



    The way the system is setup (by rich people) is that they get richer, off the work of those with less than them, whether it be in the US in factors during the industrial revolution, banks making loans, or by taking advantages of cheap labor in other countries.



    The only reason you'd ever need that kind of money is to reinvest it in politics to make even more money. I think it should be illegal to donate money towards politics at all-the exact opposite as the recent Supreme Court ruling, because it's essentially bribery. It's what's destroying the United States. Rich get even richer and pretend to give small handouts to the poor, all while squeezing the middle class. Yeah, great freaking system.



    Or with 50 billion you can donate money to the poor and less fortunate. Shouldn't that be what our government should be doing with it's money?



    Since we are such a global economy now, I think if a company wants to use another country's cheap labor they should be taxed enough to pay for the labor that is not being utilized in this country. That would do away with all the trade issues we are having with jobs in China and India and bring back all those lost jobs in the US and fix the unemployment problems plaguing this country.



    Just my thoughts...
  • Reply 15 of 136
    Do not envy wealth. Aspire to it.
  • Reply 16 of 136
    Goodie for Jobs. When you can convince every customer to pay an extra couple hundred bucks for your commodity product, I guess you get rich. Unfortunately, the world can't sustain a world of capitalist Svengalis
  • Reply 17 of 136
    I don't get it. The President says Jobs is the model for becoming wealthy yet the story claims the bulk of Jobs' wealth comes from Disney stock appreciation. Isn't that the kind of wealth gain the President often tries to label as "obscene"?
  • Reply 18 of 136
    I can't find the link, but NPR recently reported a study looking at how wrong the notion of "technological innovation will get our economy going again" is: the iPhone was found to have added something like $2 billion to the US trade deficit since it's manufactured in China.



    EDIT: found Wall Street Journal article here
  • Reply 19 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by magicj View Post


    Obama likes Apple? Apple now officially doomed.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by toddd240 View Post


    Maybe Obama forgot that Apple products are assembled using outsourced manufacturing jobs. The unions might not be too happy about that.



    Pathetic political hacks. Get over the fact that he is President.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hudson1 View Post


    I don't get it. The President says Jobs is the model for becoming wealthy yet the story claims the bulk of Jobs' wealth comes from Disney stock appreciation. Isn't that the kind of wealth gain the President often tries to label as "obscene"?



    The article did not say that "...the bulk of Jobs' wealth comes from Disney stock appreciation." Read.



    Moreover, his Disney wealth came from selling a massively successful company that he created to Walt Disney Co. Every penny of he made from that sale was the result of his entrepreneurial risk-taking.



    Oh, I'd like to see a cite for the "obscene" quote. The whole quote.
  • Reply 20 of 136
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post


    Amazing how pessimistic and negative this thread has become and it's just started.



    True. It truly stunning and sad how ignorant and dismissive some people's views can be. (Doesn't matter whether it concerns Obama or Bush.)
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