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Apple CEO Tim Cook Shares His Experience Of Working With President Donald Trump (bloomberg.com)
In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about his experience of working with Donald Trump. He said: I feel a great responsibility as an American, as a CEO, to try to influence things in areas where we have a level of expertise. I've pushed hard on immigration. We clearly have a very different view on things in that area. I've pushed on climate. We have a different view there. There are clearly areas where we're not nearly on the same page. We're dramatically different. I hope there's some areas where we're not. His focus on jobs is good. So we'll see. Pulling out of the Paris climate accord was very disappointing. I felt a responsibility to do every single thing I could for it not to happen. I think it's the wrong decision. If I see another opening on the Paris thing, I'm going to bring it up again. At the end of the day, I'm not a person who's going to walk away and say, "If you don't do what I want, I leave." I'm not on a council, so I don't have those kind of decisions. But I care deeply about America. I want America to do well. America's more important than bloody politics from my point of view. Let me give you an example of this. Veterans Affairs has struggled in providing health care to veterans. We have an expertise in some of the things at the base level that they're struggling with. So we're going to work with them. I could give a crap about the politics of it. I want to help veterans. My dad's a veteran. My brother served. We have so many military folks in Apple. These folks deserve great health care. So we're going to keep helping.
Doesn't it follow that non-vets deserve at least accessible basic healthcare?
Where Tim and Donald agree is that neither of them or their companies should have to pay US tax.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Meetings with Tim must be fun when he says the opposite of what he actually means. You'd hope that a CEO or one of the world's largest companies would at least have a grasp of basic English.
Apple has FAR greater ability to create jobs than the federal government does as a general proposition. Apple is sitting on a gigantic war chest of money. If Tim Cook really gave a shit about creating jobs he could spend some of that Scrooge McDuck pile of money on something. Saying he supports Trump on job creation is a bunch of bullshit unless he is actually directing his company to do everything it can to create jobs. He hasn't done this so he's lying about that.
The only reason for Apple to sit on a pile of cash that large is because they cannot figure out something productive to do with the money. So they should either return it to shareholders or find some way to put it to productive use.
Veterans Affairs has struggled in providing health care to veterans. We have an expertise in some of the things at the base level that they're struggling with. So we're going to work with them. I could give a crap about the politics of it. I want to help veterans. My dad's a veteran. My brother served. We have so many military folks in Apple. These folks deserve great health care. So we're going to keep helping.
The VA needs help to be sure but how about solving the bigger problem? EVERYONE needs health care, not just veterans. EVERYONE needs health insurance, not just veterans. IT in medicine sucks terribly for the most part. Apple has done nothing to tackle this problem. That would be a great place to invest some of those billions they have on their balance sheet. Buy some medical records companies and get busy. Do something rather than talking to Trump which is probably a waste of time.
Although the article here seems tailor made to bring out both the political flames as well as the Apple-bashing flames, I would like to say that I admire this attitude.
Talk is cheap. I judge a man by his actions. Tim Cook talks a good game about caring about the country but he does everything in his power to have his company avoid paying taxes to support it. Apple has billions in cash on their balance sheet which could be invested in ways that would create jobs. Instead they simply sit like Smaug on their pile of gold and do nothing that would create jobs or drive the economy forward. Apple has outsourced nearly all of their manufacturing to China, even stuff that might not actually have to be outsourced. Tim Cook I'm sure has many wonderful qualities but on the stuff he's talking about here he is nothing but a do-nothing hypocrite. Few companies are as well resourced to help change the world as Apple but sadly Apple and Cook are doing little with that opportunity.
I wish there were more people with the attitude that they want to do what they can to fix what problems they can, and that far too many people do instead say, "If you don't do what I want, I leave."
So do I. What's more I think rich powerful men like Tim Cook should be leading the charge instead of hoping others do it for them. Elon Musk is a FAR better example of someone trying to actually improve the world than Tim Cook is.
According to environmental scientists if you are using electricity and not living or at least pushing for their "agrarian utopia" you are destroying society and our environment.
Bullshit. Citation needed.
Which "scientists" are you purportedly quoting here?
Cook lives in a multi-million dollar abode so hard to claim, by their standards, that he is living a responsible lifestyle.
In Silicon Valley "multi-million dollar abode" means a shack with running water.
No, it's because Apple's preferred upgrade path is that you need to buy a whole new computer.
And that's a really green thing to do.
If by "green" they mean money instead of the environment.
#DeleteFacebook
A need does not create a right. People need health care, but it is NOT government's job to give everybody what they need.
Fuck you for thinking that people don't have a right to receive health care. Everybody should have a right to be treated when they are sick without being bankrupted in the process. If you think otherwise then you are an asshole. Plenty of people work very hard and still end up with medical bills FAR beyond their ability to pay them. A few weeks stay in a hospital can easily cost six figures. The only institution that can solve this problem is the government and to pretend otherwise is both idiotic and cruel.
Even taking ethics out of it, pure economic pragmatism should drive us to want to see everyone taken care of because if you don't insure everyone then you end up spending even more money when they inevitably end up in the ER and drive up costs for everyone.
Well, to be fair, the current administration *IS* working on legislation (hopefully soon) to allow for repatriation of Apple and other companies' tax dollars offshore....at a reasonable rate.
You can't blame a company or an individual for taking every LEGAL tax write off and advantage that is offered to them.
Do you not take every deduction you can? Do you offer to pay more tax than you have to?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
So? A mouth is not a sexual organ either. Neither are breasts, hands, feets... yet there are sections for those on porn websites. I think those people are sick in the head though. I'd rather hang in the furry futanari tentacle school uniform pregnant section.
#DeleteFacebook
Few companies are as well resourced to help change the world as Apple but sadly Apple and Cook are doing little with that opportunity.
Sadly, our capitalist system is ill-suited to the kind of altruistic effort you describe. Fiduciary responsibility prevents most corporations from taking risks for the common good.
I have what I call the Elon Musk Rule for Billionaires: If you're doing even 1/10th of the public good as Elon does, then you deserve your billions. But if you're just another hedge-funder, sitting on your Smaug hoard, then you -- or rather the fact that you are a billionaire -- is not doing any good for the rest of us. Furthermore, the fact that you are keeping all that coin in your hoard, and out of circulation, is in fact a detriment to the rest of us. You are nothing more than a blood-sucking parasite with a fancy suit and a Ferrari.
It's worth noting that both SpaceX and Tesla were started as private companies (and SpaceX is still private) precisely because Elon knew he could never get away with such risky behavior as a public corporation.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
You make this argument because it is Apple, and not a "dirty" oil company, because you likely believe Apple is a "good" socially responsible company, even if they are not.
The problem is that these large companies hire expensive lawyers and lobbyists to make the rules. Apple is also guilty of this. So, this is not a simple case of "oooops, lookey here, i found me a deduction." It is more along the lines of, "I will donate X to your campaign, and you make me a 8x deduction. It is wrong and despicable. Don't forgive companies for doing this.....Especially Apple and Google, who claim to be socially responsible, then hides from paying taxes so less services can be provided. Hypocrites suck. No matter how much they put a good face eon it.
"Liberalism is a very noble idea, currently controlled by some very bad people. Be sure you do not get the two confused.