Nobody’s Fool: Steve Jobs
Nobody’s Fool
Like most baby boomers I am fascinated by the life of Steve Jobs. I actually remember typing on a typewriter…and having to white out mistakes, and getting ink on my hands from the carbon papers. The advancement of computers in our lifetime, while not as life changing as the car and the electric light in my grandmother’s lifetime, has certainly opened up new worlds for everyone. So the masters, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, have always been hero’s to my generation.
The new hit biography about Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, left no punches. In most cases he was a spoiled, absolute brat, with no social grace whatsoever. Still genius is forgiven when it comes to changing the world, and while the book makes you feel sorry for his family, and anyone who worked with him, they all said, without Steve, none of that fun stuff like the Mac, the I-Pod, the I-Phone, the I-Tunes…none of it would have existed.
He was arrogant, egotistical, mean, but right most of the time. In other words, he believed in himself and for that, he had his dad and mom to thank. Not the real ones, but the ones who adopted him.
While American’ s worship Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs, neither one of these men made the really cool computers we use today. What they did do was find the right engineers, and push the right ideas until they came into being. The real credit behind computers, men like Steve Wozniak, Jobs’ early partner, fade into the background. But— it’s one thing to have the vision, it’s quite another to make the visions happen and that’s where Gates and Jobs are attached at the hip.
The difference is that Gates licensed his software out to everyone, and Jobs kept all is ideas in the family of Apple. Two different business models. Two different men. Jobs was an artist. Gates, more the businessman.
Steve was a Bob Dylan fan. He was a Beatles fan. He was the hippie of the sixties who dropped acid, and went into a veggie diet that deprived him of the protein he needed in the end of his life when he was fighting cancer. I knew so many of these people growing up…the wild and crazy “peace, and free love” kids, who were, yes..children. When they got out into the real world..most all of them grew up and became conservatives.
But what happened to the baby boomers who didn’t grow up? The ones who stayed in that hippie stage forever? Like, Hillary Clinton?
The answer: They had rich parents to begin with. Hillary and Steve Jobs had upper middle class parents. So did Bill Gates. They never left the “free and open” leftist propaganda of the sixties, or even questioned it. They were ‘sensitive’ and were out to change the world. And they had the connections to do it.
You can read the biography about all the clever things Steve Jobs did to make his visions come to life, it’s a good book …but I’m going to talk about something else that bothers me: Why do so many of these people…ones who make money the good old capitalistic way, feel so connected to Karl Marx?
The two biggest capitalists of our generations…were die hard liberals. Both Gates and Jobs were Democrats. Al Gore was on the board of Apple. Bill Clinton was a good friend. While Steve Jobs told Obama that he needed to get the government regulations off businesses back, he still wanted to help Obama get reelected by making a great commercial for his reelection campaign.
Here’s a funny story from his book: Steve Jobs had the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, on his board of Directors at Apple, probably due to Al Gore’s insistence because Al Gore is on the board of Google and Apple. Google literally stole the I Pad idea and came out with the Android. Steve was so mad at getting ribbed off by his own board member he said:
“Google, you fucking ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off. Grand Theft. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go to thermonuclear war on this. Outside of Search, Google’s products. Android, Google Docs, are shit. “
Did Al Gore have anything to do with this theft? Al Gore is on Google’s board too, and Al Gore and Google would think nothing of “redistributing” Steve Jobs hard earned ideas to the world for free, if they both could get rich off of it themselves.
There’s something about Bill Gates that creeps me out. He puts on that “face” of innocent and it’s no doubt that you would be “gotten.” Steve Jobs at least was honest. If he didn’t like something, he told you. At least you knew.
I’ve never owned an Apple, but, there is no doubt, I would love it. Steve Job was an artist first, and then he became the best CEO in the world. Everyone wants the Apple now. Steve Jobs made sure that the brand meant quality, and that used to be the American way. Steve Jobs wanted the very best, and demanded it. We are all the richer for it.
Read the book, it’s an amazing story.
Who’s Board are YOU on?
Nobody Wonders
I just got finished reading Steve Job’s biography and was amazed about the fact that Al Gore was on the board of Apple. Then I remembered that both Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama had been on the boards of Wal-Mart. So,..I don’t get it. The CEO’s of these big multinational companies are hiring government people to be on their boards, and paying them to vote on the company’s issues.
Isn’t that fascism?
From USA Today:
Corporations are largely forbidden from giving money directly to politicians’ families for their personal use. But they can hire family members, pay them for making speeches and put them on their boards.
Lawmakers are required to disclose if they or their spouses receive fees of more than $1,000 for sitting on boards but are not required to specify how much they are paid. There is no limit on the number of boards a congressional spouse can sit on or how much can be earned
Elaine Chao, wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sat on the boards of Dole Food, Protective Life, Kindred Healthcare, Marine Transport, Northwest Airlines and several other companies before ethics rules required her to resign those positions when she was sworn in as Secretary of Labor last year.
Richard Blum, who is married to Feinstein, sits on the boards of six companies, including an offshore company in England called the Concord Egyptian Fund. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., reported receiving $59,460 last year from Behlen Manufacturing, a Columbus, Neb., maker of farm equipment. Nelson sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Like I said: Nobody Thinks there should be a law saying no one connected with the government, or their spouses or relatives, should be allowed to serve on the boards of any major companies. Really, what does Hillary or Michelle know about running a company? And WHY should they be allowed to vote on issues? Is Michelle on the board of McDonalds? Is that why I’m getting apples in my Happy Meal?




