Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder and former CEO, passed away on October 5 at the young age of 56 following a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
A true visionary, Jobs will be remembered as one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. He co-founded Apple in 1976, introduced the first Macintosh computer in 1984, and after being fired in 1985 because of a feud with Apple executives, he went on to found companies like NeXT and Pixar Animation Studios.
Jobs eventually returned as the permanent CEO of Apple in 2000 and helped introduce some of the most popular consumer products of the 21st century, including the iMac, iPod, iTunes, MacBook, iPhone, and iPad.
Less than a decade ago, Apple fans were considered members of a cult. Today, Apple is the second most valuable company in the world only behind Exxon. The iPod is the most popular portable media player in the world, the iPhone is the most popular smartphone in the world, and the iPad is the most popular computer tablet in the world.
He has succeeded in creating consumer-friendly electronics that even the most technologically-inept users can operate. Even the poorest of Americans are fortunate enough to afford Apple products due to the innovation of Steve Jobs. The destitute poor in third-world countries are even beginning to see decade-old iPods and Macs and I’m sure there will be iPads popping up in these same third-world countries in the next ten years as well.
In 2008, George W. Bush signed into law a bill called the Trouble Asset Relief Protection that bailed out corporations like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. Barack Obama passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that cost taxpayers $787 billion. One of the biggest controversies in Washington today is the U.S. government’s decision in 2009 to provide a $535 million guaranteed loan to a company named Solyndra Corporation. Solyndra was touted by President Obama and promoted by Vice President Biden, and yet the company filed for bankruptcy this past September without paying back any of the $535 million of taxpayer money that the government loaned them. The President, senators, and congressmen are still thinking about spending more taxpayer money to bail out failing companies.
Steve Jobs and Apple present a stark contrast to today’s political and business climate. Upon returning to Apple in 1997, the company was worth a mere $2 billion. After just over a decade of Jobs’ management,
Apple is now worth a total of $350 billion. It’s odd that politicians seem more intent on convincing taxpaying citizens to support the government bailing out their favorite corporations rather than providing a business environment conducive to visionary entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs’ net worth at his time of death is estimated to be about $8 billion. Estate taxes will likely see $2 billion going to the federal government, the same federal government that treats money like it grows on trees. The federal government spends about $2 billion per hour. It’s sad to see a life of hard work be squandered in just a few hours.
Rest in peace Steve Jobs, the last of the great American innovators. He employed tens of thousands of people, created billions in profits for the second-biggest corporation in the world, introduced products into the marketplace at a low price used today for hundreds of millions of people, and he did it largely without any government help. He’ll go down in the history books with the likes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. America can only hope for more people as great as Steve Jobs, but the future doesn’t look so bright.
