President Obama points to Steve Jobs' ingenuity in State of the Union address

24

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wiggin View Post


    And ironically, Apple is one of the greediest companies on the planet. Think about it. They have a profit margin that would a Big Oil executive blush.



    So profit = greed?

    Guess that means you're a fan of Apple under Gil Amelio.
  • Reply 22 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wiggin View Post


    And ironically, Apple is one of the greediest companies on the planet. Think about it. They have a profit margin that would a Big Oil executive blush.



    Apple's last quarter: 13.06 billion profit on 46.33 billion revenue = 28.2% profit

    ExxonMobil 3Q11 (couldn't find 4Q11): 10.3 billion profit on 125.3 billion revenue = 8.2% profit



    And Exxon's profits are inflated by the tax breaks they get (which should be taken away).



    So why is Exxon evil and Apple the golden child?



    Edit: Not meaning to take away from all the great things Steve and Apple accomplished. Just providing a point of perspective because "excessive" oil company (or any other company) profits are a popular rallying cry for some folks.



    I'm not in the oil industry... so forgive me. Maybe it costs more money to drill and refine oil... so there's less profit?



    Why don't we stick to similar tech companies...



    Maybe they're all supposed to make decent profit... but Apple is so good at it while everyone else is so bad at it?



    Apple's phones are priced roughly the same as competing models... why does Apple make so much money?



    Or... why does a company like Motorola LOSE money?



    Here's why: Apple sells $600 phones just like everyone else. The difference is... Apple sells 37 million of them in 3 months.



    And they are extremely efficient... focusing on 3 models instead of 10.



    All this adds up to Apple having another successful quarter.
  • Reply 23 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by souliisoul View Post


    Anyone who was given leftovers from Bush's crap would be second worst president! Unfortunately Iraq war was morally right, but put financial heart attack on US economy.



    You'd only be 2nd worst if you made no effort to clean up Bush's mess. Instead, all Obama did was carry on the policies of George W. Bush(wack) pretty much his entire first term as President. Now that he's coming up for re-election he's making the promises he did back in 2008. Why should I believe him this time? Just because he's better at reading a teleprompter than the rest of the politicians?
  • Reply 24 of 72
    esoomesoom Posts: 155member
    I'm a little bummed she showed up, Steve was always too sharp to allow himself to be used like that.
  • Reply 25 of 72
    doh123doh123 Posts: 323member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    You'd only be 2nd worst if you made no effort to clean up Bush's mess. Instead, all Obama did was carry on the policies of George W. Bush(wack) pretty much his entire first term as President. Now that he's coming up for re-election he's making the promises he did back in 2008. Why should I believe him this time? Just because he's better at reading a teleprompter than the rest of the politicians?



    not really.. he went way overboard with many things.. it is not status quo...



    You get home and see your kids threw a party and trashed the house... so Obama's plan at that point it to take out a flame thrower and torch the whole house to get rid of the mess.
  • Reply 26 of 72
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by axual View Post


    Too bad we can't get people like Steve Jobs in in government ... Steve would do the following:



    1. Immediately eliminate a few big departments which do mostly nothing except employ government employees and pay their benefits, followed by eliminating most all of the waste.



    2. Implement technology across the entire government that actually works making the government 40% more efficient.



    Just how long are we going to borrow $1 of every $3 spent and how long are we going to keep spending like there is no tomorrow?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Steve would never have been able to stand being in a political position. He ran Apple like a benign dictatorship, and we're all the beneficiaries of that, but that doesn't work out too well in government.



    Steve- "ok USA, we are going to implement a new law"



    Media- "what is it?"



    Steve- "you'll see.... Trust me, it's going to be magical"



    Media- *applause* "no more questions"
  • Reply 27 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Andysol View Post


    Steve- "ok USA, we are going to implement a new law"



    Media- "what is it?"



    Steve- "you'll see.... Trust me, it's going to be magical"



    Media- *applause* "no more questions"



    Haha



    But if Jobs were president he might finally be able to get everyone extremely skinny*



    *like the iPod/iPhone
  • Reply 28 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by doh123 View Post


    not really.. he went way overboard with many things.. it is not status quo...



    You get home and see your kids threw a party and trashed the house... so Obama's plan at that point it to take out a flame thrower and torch the whole house to get rid of the mess.



    Yea exactly when he did.... Ummm what did he do again that 'torched' the place? And if all you have is the example of that weak arse stimulus plan( 50 % tax cuts) and that sorry republican retread of a health care plan I'll be sorely disappointed. Other than that, this prez AND congress did jack. But thank god for the surpreme court... Finally after 100 years in pergatory, organizations are people too!
  • Reply 29 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by doh123 View Post


    not really.. he went way overboard with many things.. it is not status quo...



    You get home and see your kids threw a party and trashed the house... so Obama's plan at that point it to take out a flame thrower and torch the whole house to get rid of the mess.



    Anybody who cleans up a messy or a trashed house with a flame thrower doesn't deserve to be 2nd worst president. They deserve to be the worst president.



    Besides Obama didn't clean up anything let alone take a flame thrower to anything. Most of the policies Bush enacted during his time Obama just kept going and even added a few of his lousy ones such his health care act, and the signing of the NDAA on New Year's Eve. Nevermind the fact he prolonged the war in Afghanistan when during his 2008 campaign he promised to release the troops from there within his first year. Plus the fact he went to war with Syria & Libya without Congressional Approval. Add to that there's talk of war with Iran. China & Russia have already warned they will take it as a national security threat if the USA or Israel attacks Iran. That's a recipe for WWIII. For what? Nuclear weapons that may or may not exist? Right. Just like there were WMD's in Iraq....NOT!



    Don't forget the trillions in bailouts for Wall Street AND foreign banks which taxpayers are now responsible for. He promises to get lobbyists out of Washington but what happens...his top advisor picks are either Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big Agri lobbyists.



    Same shit. Different year. And the Republican choices are just as bad. The only difference between the Republicans & Dems is one party wants to destroy us quickly and the other wants to destroy us slowly. Pick your poison.



    I can't remember off hand which president it was who said but the quote was good;



    When you see a continuity of an agenda from one government to the next, you know you're living in a tyranny.



    Since the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, this is exactly what's been happening.
  • Reply 30 of 72
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by axual View Post


    Steve would do the following:



    1. Immediately eliminate a few big departments which do mostly nothing except employ government employees and pay their benefits, followed by eliminating most all of the waste.



    2. Implement technology across the entire government that actually works making the government 40% more efficient.



    3. Save up $100bn in cash so the government can pay for itself out of interest, then abolish taxes.
  • Reply 31 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by souliisoul View Post


    Anyone who was given leftovers from Bush's crap would be second worst president! Unfortunately Iraq war was morally right, but put financial heart attack on US economy.



    The Iraq war was morally right?? Wow, the generation of the brainwashed people makes me scratch my head every day.
  • Reply 32 of 72
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Esoom View Post


    I'm a little bummed she showed up, Steve was always too sharp to allow himself to be used like that.



    Or just MAYBE, she actually wanted to go, and was honoured to be invited to the State of the Union. There's worse things in the world than your husband who has passed away getting a shout-out by the President of the United States, in the most important and most watched address of the year.



    Maybe, just maybe, Powell is an intelligent, normal, sane human being, which is why she showed up, and not some vindictive, irrational partisan. I watched the speech, and the thought never even occurred to me that she's being 'used', nor do I see how exactly Obama exploited her or her husband simply by taking a couple seconds to acknowledge his ingenuity in the context of what he was talking about.



    Some of you need to keep your politics out of these threads, because you make utter fools out of yourselves. Not even a fan of Obama, but some of the stuff in this tread is despicable. Still, looking at the clowns running against him on the other side, not sure what rational person can't see he's still the better pick.
  • Reply 33 of 72
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emulator View Post


    The Iraq war was morally right?? Wow, the generation of the brainwashed people makes me scratch my head every day.



    That's not very nice. It's pretty mainstream to believe that removing dictators is a good thing. Most people disagree with the handling of the war not the goals.
  • Reply 34 of 72
    obamaobama Posts: 62member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    I hesitate to mention that Steve once told Obama that he was headed for a "one term presidency", and the reasons that might happen are still in play. I personally think he's been one of the worst presidents we've had... right up there with Bush.



    Hey! Take it easy there! I love my Mac so I can't be all bad!
  • Reply 35 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by axual View Post


    Too bad we can't get people like Steve Jobs in in government ... Steve would do the following:



    1. Immediately eliminate a few big departments which do mostly nothing except employ government employees and pay their benefits, followed by eliminating most all of the waste.



    2. Implement technology across the entire government that actually works making the government 40% more efficient.



    Just how long are we going to borrow $1 of every $3 spent and how long are we going to keep spending like there is no tomorrow?



    Summer 2019 : the « water party » candidate to the US Presidency (tea party follow up, even more aggressive republican sect (yes, it is possible ...)) announces Apple's dismantling in case he/she is elected. Steve Jobs is successfully (without any campaign, as the other candidates withdraw for him) designated as Democrat candidate to the election.







    2020 : Apple reinvents the Presidency of the United States : Steve Jobs is elected president of the United States (reaching majority of votes in all states, including Texas), but insists for its salary to be one dollar / year only (first iPresident of the United States).







    At that time, Steve's popularity is so great that most American people convert to Zen Buddhism, and are no longer interested in profit making. The National Riffle Association (NRA) turns itself into the National Reconciliation Association, and now promotes non-violence. Apple Stores throughout the world (even China agrees) are converted with little modifications into Zen Buddhist temples (the Logo stays, the tables and Apple products are removed, the Genius bar employees are trained to become spiritual advisors).







    2030 : Apple reinvents the religion : after an outstanding carreer as a business man & a politician, Steve Jobs reaches the final (and probably the most successful) accomplishment of his life in being a religious leader. Flying all over the world with his Gulfstream, he preaches successfully Zen Buddhism during « spiritual keynotes », in a climate of religious fervor which cannot be described, and his exceptional charisma makes possible for him to convert very unlikely disciples (such as Arnold Schwarzenegger & Larry Ellison (who decides to give his entire fortune to charity funds, and to spend the rest of his life in the street of San Francisco as a beggar).





    2031 : after a second unsuccessful liver transplant, Steve Jobs dies. Like Prometheus (who, according to ancient Greek Mythology, was condemned to have his liver forever destroyed and then regenerated, for having stolen the fire from the Olympus, and having given it to the human), Steve Jobs, after having given the Mac to the humans, therefore had similar destiny.







    I, umrk, mere mortal, hereby testify in the front of Heaven that this is the true, complete and unaltered record of the prophecy that the Orbe of Time base wifi station transmitted to my iPad on the Patmos island (Sorry, no, I was unable to trace back the IP address of the sender ...). Let my three Macs be smashed at this very moment by celestial thunder if I lie !



    May Heaven grant me to live long enough to see the fulfilment of this prophecy !!!!
  • Reply 36 of 72
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    Anybody who cleans up a messy or a trashed house with a flame thrower doesn't deserve to be 2nd worst president. They deserve to be the worst president.



    Besides Obama didn't clean up anything let alone take a flame thrower to anything. Most of the policies Bush enacted during his time Obama just kept going and even added a few of his lousy ones such his health care act, and the signing of the NDAA on New Year's Eve. Nevermind the fact he prolonged the war in Afghanistan when during his 2008 campaign he promised to release the troops from there within his first year. Plus the fact he went to war with Syria & Libya without Congressional Approval. Add to that there's talk of war with Iran. China & Russia have already warned they will take it as a national security threat if the USA or Israel attacks Iran. That's a recipe for WWIII. For what? Nuclear weapons that may or may not exist? Right. Just like there were WMD's in Iraq....NOT!



    Don't forget the trillions in bailouts for Wall Street AND foreign banks which taxpayers are now responsible for.



    There's so much drivel here. You're entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts.



    - He never promised to get out of Afghanistan within a year. You're thinking of Iraq

    - Went to war with Syria? When? Did I miss something? That's a pretty big mistake of you to make, and shows exactly how out of touch and confused you are. But hey, Syria's in the Middle-East so it's all the same shit, right?

    - Libya was a NATO operation, and the US contributed. We got out of there damn fast, without a single injury or casualty,I'd hardly consider it a 'war'. It was absolutely the right thing to do, considering Gaddafi basically stated he planned to slaughter all the resistance, street by street. I'm generally against foreign interventions, but this is an exception I was for, and it was an incredibly quick and clean operation by US standards.

    - What does 'talk of war with Iran' mean? This is coming mostly from the right, who are attacking Obama on being 'soft' on Iran. There's no evidence he plans to attack Iran, and most of the tough talk is political and meant to appease those accusing him of not standing up to Iran. You can't accuse him of anything based on 'talk', especially when he's not behind the talk.

    - I agree with you that an attack on Iran would be a disaster, and trust me when I say I have absolutely no love for Israel, and believe they are the most dangerous country in the region. Still, Israel has been drumming up war with Iran for a long time, this has nothing to do with Obama.

    - The bailouts were a necessary evil to prevent the utter meltdown of this country and devastation of the entire economic system, not to mention tens of millions of people. If you knew a bit about the economics of the situation you would see this. I'm against bailouts in general, but this was an extreme case where the consequences of doing nothing would have been insanely disastrous.



    SO yeah.. stop lumping everything together in a desperate attempt to make a point. Most of what you said is flat out false, or heavily distorted by your own subjectivity and ignorance.
  • Reply 37 of 72
    Without mentioning politics like SOME readers. I can actually make a comment worth reading

    But that was a good reference to Steve Jobs
  • Reply 38 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Wiggin View Post


    And ironically, Apple is one of the greediest companies on the planet. Think about it. They have a profit margin that would a Big Oil executive blush.



    Apple's last quarter: 13.06 billion profit on 46.33 billion revenue = 28.2% profit

    ExxonMobil 3Q11 (couldn't find 4Q11): 10.3 billion profit on 125.3 billion revenue = 8.2% profit



    And Exxon's profits are inflated by the tax breaks they get (which should be taken away).



    So why is Exxon evil and Apple the golden child?



    Edit: Not meaning to take away from all the great things Steve and Apple accomplished. Just providing a point of perspective because "excessive" oil company (or any other company) profits are a popular rallying cry for some folks.



    There is nothing wrong with having a profit margin. If you haven't been keeping up in the last year iCloud is what I paid $99 a year for and it's now free. Billion dollar data centers and free cloud based services are a way of giving back to your users and making an even better product.
  • Reply 39 of 72
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    I hesitate to mention that Steve once told Obama that he was headed for a "one term presidency", and the reasons that might happen are still in play. I personally think he's been one of the worst presidents we've had... right up there with Bush.



    The positive thing with Obama is how US is seen in the world. He is extremely popular. Bush was incredible hated.



    The US problems can't be fixed since no one dares to tell the truth. 1/3 of the budget is military and that is totally unnecessary. But US people believe that they need to be "strong" and play police around the world. I personally understand and is extremely grateful for the sacrifice that US does in life and money. The problem is that the wast majority of people in the world does not understand and hate US just more when you try to help. Its time for US to think about it self first. Why have troops in Germany and Japan? Just wasteful.



    The other taboo in US is immigration. US economy problem is not to low taxes in "rich" like Obama wants to make it out. The problem is that 20%+ does not have work. The thing that people don't want to admit is that US creates 330000 jobs each month, still unemployment rises. The reason is immigration. If US stopped immigration for 3-5 years the unemployment would go down 3-6% and the tax base would be greater.



    US is such a great innovative country that have been destroyed by politicians. People are polarized and vote on their team instead of the people who are best on the job. No political party should exist since no political party in the world have everything right. Every question and decision should be based on fact and evidence. Today its based on team.



    The government should be small and run as a company. Give the customers what they want, with good quality and efficiency.



    They only way to fix this is economic democracy. On the tax specification you get each year you should be able to write how you want your taxes would be spent. This would lead to that the politicians would be forces to run the country how the pope wants and people would have some clue where the money goes to.



    Many believes that the problem is companies like Apple who make to much profit. Headlines like: Apple have more money then the government. People don't understand that Apples 100 billion could run the government for about a week. Tax income is so insane high that companies profits are minimal. The problem is spending and tax base.
  • Reply 40 of 72
    shompashompa Posts: 343member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tru_canuk View Post


    Anybody who cleans up a messy or a trashed house with a flame thrower doesn't deserve to be 2nd worst president. They deserve to be the worst president.



    Besides Obama didn't clean up anything let alone take a flame thrower to anything. Most of the policies Bush enacted during his time Obama just kept going and even added a few of his lousy ones such his health care act, and the signing of the NDAA on New Year's Eve. Nevermind the fact he prolonged the war in Afghanistan when during his 2008 campaign he promised to release the troops from there within his first year. Plus the fact he went to war with Syria & Libya without Congressional Approval. Add to that there's talk of war with Iran. China & Russia have already warned they will take it as a national security threat if the USA or Israel attacks Iran. That's a recipe for WWIII. For what? Nuclear weapons that may or may not exist? Right. Just like there were WMD's in Iraq....NOT!



    Don't forget the trillions in bailouts for Wall Street AND foreign banks which taxpayers are now responsible for. He promises to get lobbyists out of Washington but what happens...his top advisor picks are either Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big Agri lobbyists.



    Same shit. Different year. And the Republican choices are just as bad. The only difference between the Republicans & Dems is one party wants to destroy us quickly and the other wants to destroy us slowly. Pick your poison.



    I can't remember off hand which president it was who said but the quote was good;



    When you see a continuity of an agenda from one government to the next, you know you're living in a tyranny.



    Since the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, this is exactly what's been happening.



    Even UN said that there where WMD in Iraq.

    The problem was that US gave Iraq a 6 month deadline before the attack. Iraq had plenty of time to destroy their WMD.



    Iraq is one of the few countries in the world history that have used WMD, so they had them. That is fact. They killed over 5000 Kurds with gas.



    Bookmark this post, and you will see that I am right.



    Iraq is exactly like Germany in 1945. In 1945 almost all countries in Europe where run by dictators. The democratization of Germany lead to a domino effect that 50 years later lead to that every country in Europe is democratic. We are seeing the same thing happen in the Arab world. Who would have believed just a couple a years ago that Libya and Egypt would rise up and try to become democratic?



    For humanity the Iraq innovation was great. It saved 100000 of Iraqi lives and will lead to democratization of the arab world.





    BTW. Israel bombed the Syria nuclear reactor. A brilliant operation that was so good that even the Syrians does not dare to complain about it. The Israelis turned of the Syrian air defense with computers. They landed Sayeret Matkal that raided the nuclear plant and gathered evidence. Then the Sayeret Matkal laser pointed the reactor and blew it up. Perfect operation.



    Israel also stopped Iran from starting its nuclear plant last year by uploading virus to the Siemens stuff they had. One year later Iran still haven't managed to restart the plant.
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