Step 1... Close all plants in US and Ireland...
Step 2... Send all work to Taiwan!

The rich get richer!

Of course I don't think it's a bad thing to send the jobs to Taiwan. If that's what it takes to get the price of Macs down then so be it. And not all the Apple share holders are the evil "rich" people.

"I don't own that Dell, that is the family's Dell" - John Kerry

...in 16 months! Boy, ol' Stevie is paying Apple employees way too much. Why, that's $450 a month!

dont risk losing my business oversomething as devisive as politics. Its like actors - sit there and act - i dopnt want to know you r opinion otherwise it MAY get in the way of my enjoying your performance. Same holds true for Apple. If they (Apple) ends up backing someone I may not like, then they run the risk of turning me away as a cutsomers... sell computers don't sell me your personal idiology (althogh that's kind of a hard thing to separate with Apple since the whole product is in itself idiology).

Amen to that. Make computers. Keep your politics private.

"Of all the wonderful things government says, [the idea that they can create jobs] has always been just about my favorite...as opposed to if you get to keep the money. Because what you'll do is go out and bury it in your yard: anything to prevent that money from creating jobs. They never stop saying it. They say it with a straight face and we in the press will write that down. We will say, 'This is expected to create x number of jobs.' On the other hand, we never say that the money we removed from another part of the economy will kill some jobs." - Dave Barry, Miami Herald Syndicated Humor Columnist

...Will Steve bring Johnny onto the Apple Board of Directors like he did Al Gore? What has Al Gore done for Apple since joining the board? In what way has he contributed to Apple's success, strategy or anything meaningful other than make Steve feel good about being a lifelong flowerchild. Gore was our "technology czar" under Clinton, the Internet tech bubble was politically seized as an end to economic business cycles. Then the bubble burst and the economy slowed down during the 2000 election cycle.

I just wish Apple/Steve (since Steve is more than a CEO, he's the face, the icon of Apple making the two virtually synonymous) would stick to making good computers with a good customer experience and keep the h*** out of Democrat politics. Steve fits in really well with that lot though with his lipservice to "caring" about the company by taking a token salary while in truth earning an outrageous level of compensation.

I'd rather have a reliable Finder and pop-up windows (which Steve smeared as someone's "wet dream") back than any grossly over political moves. With Apple it's almost like my mother says when she's gone to the films: "Well, I've made my contribution to the Democratic party."

with the many many rich b******* giving to and supporting the republicans i'm glad to see some balance. h***, did you all miss the nightline thing? that is nothing but corruption. you don't like it, don't buy it. i don't buy domino's pizza because the owner is the single largest individual contributor to the pro life people. he can do what he wants with his money, but i won't give him any of mine.

i believe that steve jobs is a visionary,
a man who could see things most people cant,

it wouldnt hurt for kerry to hear his opinion,

good or bad,

its funny how kerry turned to a major innovator in the computer world for advice,

guess more and more people are figuring out..

change and innovation are what ppl like . . .


we want better!

The fact that Rush Limbaugh is such a Mac fanatic didn't cause me to drop the platform, but I wish those right-wing blowhards would keep their platform preferences to themselves. Next, we will hear that Sean Hannity's site is hosted on Xserves . . ..

I find it ironic that so many Apple users are so obviously left wing. Based on the stereotype that all republicans are rich, you'd think only republicans could afford the premium we all pay for Apple products.

When someone told kerry to make a plan to find jobs, someone forget to tell him "jobs", not "Steve Jobs."

I live in Mass, Kerry has done nothing, and to be honest, I've seen maybe three Kerry bumper stickers, and lots more Bush stickers.

But I agree, leave Macs and MacNN away from politics...

Amen to that. Make computers. Keep your politics private.

Well, its not like Jobs is making public appearances and talking economic policies while announcing new macs. He's talking to Kerry privately.

As for Gore, who knows what he's brought to the table. Seriously, how do you know what anyone has brought to the table? And that's true of any board. Why aren't you whining about Scott Campbell. Were you whining about Ellison? And what of the others?

For all you know, Gore drove apple into the Xserve market, convinced Jobs to go to IBM and the G5, conceived of the idea of making a headless eMac and selling it for $600, as well as other stuff. Or he's done nothing. If he got up and said "The xserve was my idea" he'd be laughed at by you all saying he's taking credit for other's work. He doesn't say anything, you all claim he's doing nothing.

As for Kerry doing 'nothing' for Massachussetts, I guess you'd be happier if he was just another Senator who just shoves more pork into spending bills for pet projects and big business donors. We'd be much better off with a president who starts wars on lies, tells us the job is done, and yet we're still there and still dying a year later, tells us that the WMD have been found, then says the WMD labs have been found, then finally admits all they've got is some people who worked on WMD conceptual development (i.e. paper and pencil). Or a president who funnels most of the rebuilding in Iraq to Cheney's former company, rather than Iraqi's themselves who could rebuild quicker and cheaper. Or a president who considers a press conference a "high-pressure" situation, stumbling to think of an answer to a question his people didn't prepare him for.

As for outsourcing, unless you only buy 100% american products (i.e. stay away from Walmart), you've got no argument.

When Steve became CEO, Apple made huge losses every year. Now Apple is very profitable (AND uses cpu:s made in USA).

When Kerry takes over in November 2004 he will take over a record-large deficit, which he will have to deal with.

Apple would never have transformed into what we have today (Mac OS X, profits, iPods) with the old board. Steve made cool things happen.

US will not be able to regain its economy, positive thinking, international reputation, and respect if the current Cheney administration stays in power.

The similarities are striking.

The fact that Al Gore is such a Mac fanatic didn't cause me to drop the platform, but I wish those left-wing blowhards would keep their platform preferences to themselves. Next, we will hear that Moveon.org's site is hosted on Xserves . . ..

Please, neocon blowhards, get over yourselves. Your 15 minutes is almost up.

You know, it's not exactly NEWS that Steve Jobs leans Democratic (like, you know, 50% of America does?). So don't act all shocked that Steve is giving Kerry some advice.

Frankly, though, the person who ought to be advising Kerry on economic issues is FRED ANDERSON, not Jobs. That guy is a GENIUS.

Fred for head of the Federal Reserve! :)

The last presidential candidate to be buddies with Steve lost. Maybe Steve will invite him to be on the Board as consolation prize too (maybe for Pixar this time).

John Kerry appears to be a procrastinator. He's going to be steam-rolled by the Bush campaign and be on the defensive all the way to the election if he doesn't start taking the initiative, instead of seeking advice from questionable sources. Jobs is a great CEO for Apple and Buffett is a very successful investor, but what do they know about political strategy (or even the economy at the national level)?

Like Jobs has a clue about this stuff.

This is a win win situation for Apple if this conversation actually took place with Kerry

Actually, the last presidential candidate to be buddies with Steve WON.

The Supreme Court decided that wasn't acceptable and made a decision based on their OWN criteria rather than ANY actual count of the votes. (read the decision for yourself if you don't believe me!)

And as for the guy who thinks Jobs "hasn't a clue" about economics, I would remind you that the company has been spectacularly profitable despite flat demand and a VERY sour economy for the last four years. Remember Compaq? E-machines/Gateway? IBM in the consumer market? Packard-Bell? Micron?

There's really only three companies left in the consumer PC space, and that's Dell, HP and Apple. And Apple's making consistent profits with (if you believe the stats) about 2.5% global marketshare.

I'd say there's SOMEBODY at Apple who understand economics, wouldn't you?

As a legal commentator, I feel it necessary to comment on the last post. The US Supreme Court most definitely did *not* impose "their own criteria." However, they are forbidden by the Constitution from deciding on the basis of the vote count itself (such as it was), as this is a matter of state control. I think chas_m misunderstands the nature of the appeal that was presented to the Court, and the limit of its responsibilities. The US Supreme Court *cannot* overturn a state supreme court on a matter pertaining to the interpretation of state law. The vote count, no matter how important, becomes a constitutional issue only when issues arise under the US Constitution, as they did here. Issues of federalism (the balance between the federal and state governments) involve a vast number of concerns that must be balanced, and the Court correctly turned to a weighty body of precedent in this area.

I don't mean to suggest that the reasoning they applied was unassailable, as indeed four justices dissented. As a Gore supporter, I would have liked to see them go the other way. But to claim that they used their own criteria is to misread the result.

How hard is it to advise anyone on economic issues nowadays? Just look at what's being done now and don't do that as the current strategy is obviously not working. And that is true regardless of who is President or who is running.

>>Actually, the last presidential candidate to be buddies with Steve WON.

boy, you people still can't get over this one. remember that document called the constitution? Clearly, it says that a president is elected by the electoral college, and not popular vote. Al Gore lost because he did not have the electoral votes. Get over it already.

One thing is for sure, though you will deny it, the economy is booming, jobs are coming back, GDP is up, stock market everything is up except for unemployment. The problem with you left wing radicals is you so desperately want to see fault in anything GWB, or any republican does, you take any good news and spin it into something bad.

Rest assured, four more years of prosperity, morality, strength, resolve and truth can only come from Bush's reelection. You can count on that.

If Kerry had the opportunity, we'd all suffer when go to the Apple Store because we'll be paying even more for our apple products because of an increase on taxes.

what the fsck?

which economy is booming? the one in india or maybe in costa rica? our u.s. economy is in the s*** once again. let's see:

- reagan, after eight years the u.s. was in the dump, many thought it was about as bad as it could get
- bush senior, after his four it was actually as bad as it had never been before; we were amazed to see reagan's deficit was surpassed
- clinton, after his 8 years the u.s. is doing best since the sixties
- bush jr., after four years all the bang is gone, the country is in s*** shape, the world hates us and we are fighting dozens of battles against some imaginary enemies we can't win against.

now, please tell me again what the republicans have done for our economy in the last quarter century? nothing.

zitch.

nada.

unless of course
- fight stupid wars
- spend lots of $$$ to help their corrupt campaign buddies
- claim hatred is a value
- pile up a huge deficit
- waste the next generation's money

face it: republican ideology is to waste money. this country always suffered under republican economic policy.

they may be good at other things, but the flunked economy 100%.

Re:" Yes because we all know that international respect is the key to a strong US."

Actually,a strong US is the key to international respect.

Rest assured, four more years of prosperity, morality

Well, my problem with Bush's particular brand of "morality" is that it often is so closely linked to the Christian Right, and while I am a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, Bush is certainly one of the most conservative "Methodists" I've ever seen. He'd fit much better in among the Southern Baptists, which, ironically, was Al Gore's church of choice.

Simon, you really are simple. I suggest you read some history about the economy and look up some figures coming out of the department of labor and the federal reserve.

Fact#1 - Reagan gave us the longest period of economic prosperity during peace time. You libs are fond of referring to the 80's as the decade of decadence. It would be pretty difficult to be decadent with the economy in the toilet.

Fact #2 - The economy now is in a full speed recovery. Two months ago we had the single largest quarter of economic expansion in 20 years. Unemployment is shrinking. The GDP is increasing. I'm not sure if you are familiar with these terms or not, but they are the indicators of a healthy, strong and vibrant economy.

Is everything peachy keen? Of course not. Gas prices are outrageous, but that can be attributed more to the fact that we haven't built a single new oil refinery in the US for over 20 years. That means we are at another country's mercy to have our oil pumped and refined.

Simon, go do some reading and come back when you've gotten an education.

As for Steve-o advising Kerry... power to him. I love Apple. I like Steve. However, if I was looking for some solid economic advice, I wouldn't be soliciting it from someone who has 3% marketshare. If Kerry wants good advice from Steve-o, he should ask him how to develop his charisma.

>Yes because we all know that international respect
>is the key to a strong US

Hey, you don't need the rest of the world, just close your borders, don't let anyone, or anything, in or out, stop sending us your crappy TV, and everyone will be happy.

Won't they?

Hey, even better, why don't you all colonise Mars, Mr President would think that a great idea, and give the country back to the plains indians! I'm sure they could rustle up a leaving party for you.

A whole planet all to yourselves, imagine that!

>If Kerry wants good advice from Steve-o, he should ask him how to develop his charisma.

That's a very good point. :)

you have the worst president ever. and if you cannot see this its about time you open an international newspaper. Ask anyone outside america about their opinion about the US ... yes you know the answer... and this is only G. W. Bush fault.

Please get rid of him!!!!. You all need a new president if you ever want international respect, but most important of all is maybe a HUGE shift in your foreing policy.

OK, let's see,

- Fact 1: After Reagan the US had a record deficit
- Fact 2: After Bush Senior the US had a record deficit
- Fact 3: After Clinton the US had a record surplus
- Fact 4: After only 4 years of GWB we are back into deficit

Now, after reading these four points, what do we need to conclude concerning republican economics?

Right, it doesn't work.

Kerry may be a war veteran but he is a fool in the present environment. As I see it Bush is the far more patriotic and smarter of the two. In fact Bush's policies in battling terrorism are visionary. Bush has the long term well-being of all Americans in mind. I'm tempted to stop buying Apple products.

Ralph Nader is getting campaign advice from the top dog from Commodore. In fact his campaign sticker was designed using a Vic-20... :D

You simple man. Deficits are not the benchmark of how good/how bad an economy is. The can become a reason an economy struggles, but they are just one variable. As is inflation. Inflation is a much larger concern.

Remember (you're probably too young, so read up on it) the Carter years? Inflation was out of control, and as a result, interest rates for home mortages were around 20%. At those rates, very few people could afford to buy a home. The housing industry was in the toilet. Gas prices were ridiculous (even by todays standards), and the Arabs had us over a barrell (literally), and gas shortages caused long lines at the pump.

And to set the record straight, we didn't have surpluses under Clinton. We had *projected* surpluses. These *surpluses* were projected to happen years down the road. They didn't take in to account something like, oh, let's say, a *major* terrorist attack.

Wake up and smell reality.

> Deficits are not the benchmark of how good/how bad an economy is.

No, they are a benchmark for how good or bad a president is in wasting other people's money.

"As I see it Bush is the far more patriotic and smarter of the two"
-Enough already with comments like this. Being patriotic is not a contest. I'm so sick of hearing this "I'm more patriotic than you" c*** that has been going around since Sept. 11. One is either patriotic or not...there's no degrees or competition in that. And just because some may disagree with the current administrations policies does not make that person unpatriotic either. This country was founded on decent and that is American and that is patriotic. So get over it already.
"I'm tempted to stop buying Apple products."
-Please do, one less lemming in the mac community would be fine by me....it's unbelievable to me that people on here are going to give up their computer of choice because Jobs is giving Kerry advice. Grow Up and get a clue. I hate Rush Fatbaugh as much as anyone, but does it bother me that he is a mac fan!!! Not at all....so we have at least one thing in common. Good for us. It is so incredibly juvenile. "My candidate uses windows....oh yeah well mine uses a mac"...do any of you see how incredibly stupid this is or is it just me???

This is going to be one "fun" election. We were just have this election, and a civil war broke out.

>The report indicates that Jobs has not made any personal donations to Kerry, but notes that Apple employees have given a total of $7,251 to Kerry since January 2003.

Come on... There must be at least one stealth Republican among Apple's rank-and-file who gave fifty bucks to the Bush campaign!

Uh, fellas, if you make less than $200k per annum, Kerry will actually lower your taxes (or keep them as they are now). I'm continually mystified why anyone who is not super-rich would vote Republican. This is the most corrupt, cronyist, anti-middle class, anti-poor administration since Harding's.

Not to mention the fact that they are neither compassionate nor conservative. Elective wars. Skyrocketing deficits. Ballooning non-defense government spending. Increasingly invasive social policies. h***, they're even talking about amending the Constitution to deny rights to a segment of the population! My dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican grandfather is spinning in his grave as we speak!