Reader Harold Theurer sees another angle. Noting the passing of Steve Jobs, he wonders how many protesters carrying Apple products understand how those gadgets came to exist.
“What started out as two men in a garage with ideas and passion would have been nothing more than two guys in a garage with ideas and passion had it not been for an IPO on Dec. 12, 1980, when Apple went public at $22 per share,” he writes.
“Big Bad Wall Street raised $101 million for Mr. Jobs to expand his ideas, create jobs and change the landscape of technology. The next time any of the Wall Street occupiers makes an iTune purchase, it can be traced back to some Big Bad Banker’s belief in Mr. Jobs and his company.”
Class dismissed.
2 comments:
FACT-CHECK:
Companies do not go from garage to IPO. Jobs & Wozniac moved out of the garage back in January 1977. They had hired hundreds of employees and sold tens of thousands of products before their IPO in December 1980.
This meme implies that only Wall Street people bought Apple stock in 1980. All sorts of people buy stock.
There's also the implication that Wall Street banks only do good, or that they should be immune to criticism because they do some useful things. You may as well say that government should be above criticism; they do useful things, too.
The criticism of Wall Street executives is that they helped blow an enormous hole in the global economy (destroying millions of jobs) by pushing toxic financial products, having promoted them as safe investments. After the crash and the bailouts, Wall Street executives got large bonuses, and failed CEOs got gigantic golden-parachute severance packages. That is simply not good.
Another criticism is that executives are taking an ever-larger piece of the economic pie, which leads to stagnant wages or layoffs for workers. This is not a sustainable trend.
Thank you Matt For your comments.
First of all it doesn't matter whether Jobs and Woznic were still in or out of the garage when Apple went public.What matters is that the Apple of to today would probably be the company it is today without the influx of capital it recieved from the market back in 1980.
Your right,it wasn't only 'Wall Street people' who bought stock in apple,but those who did buy stock in Apple,bought it through 'Wall Street people.'
No one in their right mind believes,that Wall Street banks only do good and should be above criticism.
Further more have you read this blog.Do you seriously think I believe that the government should be above criticism?Goverment is the problem,the whole problem.
The exact reason for all of the corruption you mention,is the Federal governments interference in the market.The Federal government,through Fannie and Freddie Mac,and through TARP produced the corruption you speak of.
My problem with the Occupy crowd lies in the fact that they do not access blame upon Washington and want more of Washingtons influence that has bred the corruption to begin with.
The answer is to returh to an absolutely free market,with little or no government influence,so that the market can properly correct it self and the corruption you see.
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