The Late Steve Jobs Has A Few Words For Mr No-Jobs

M2RB:  Simple Minds, Live Aid, Philadelphia, 13 July 1985

Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by?
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ohhhh.....

Don't you forget about me
Don't!  Don't!  Don't!  Don't!
Don't you forget about me

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business. you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen. ... I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there.  It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.”

- President Barack Obama, 13 July 2012 

Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland presents President Barack Obama with the Nobel Prize medal and diploma during a ceremony in Oslo, Norway on 10 December 2009. 

"Er, not only did you "not build that" Peace Prize, you didn't even earn or deserve it, Mr Drone Man."

- Steve Jobs

Dear Mr President:

Before my death and Rebirth, I warned that "You're headed for a one-term presidency" and it was because of statements and thinking like that on display last FRIDAY, THE 13TH.  Granted, you hadn't been that out-of-control and off-message since you ran into a plumber playing football with his son on a Sunday afternoon, but still, dude.  You sounded like you did back in the days at Occidental with  Caroline Boss, Hasan Chandoo,  John Drew, and Wahid and Sohale Siddiqi agitating, organising, writing, and spouting the Communist Party line and identifying yourselves as 'ardent, Marxist Socialists.'  Don't bother trying to deny it, dude.  C'est moi, you are talking to.  Not only does the paper record exist on Earth, but in Rebirth, I have the gift of knowledge and these things I know to be true.

Now, I heard that you said a few months ago: 

 

“…But none of us make it on our own. Somebody — an outstanding entrepreneur like a Steve Jobs — somewhere along the line he had a teacher who helped inspire him. All those great Internet businesses wouldn’t have succeeded unless somebody had invested in the government research that helped to create the Internet. We don’t succeed on our own. We succeed because this country has, in previous generations, made investments that allow all of us to succeed.”

'Tis true, I was inspired by many people along the way and the government did, in fact, conduct some of the research that went into transforming the world into one, global market and neighbourhood.   I never claimed that my success is an island.  My adoptive parents gave me a great life and taught me so much about life, but the government was not responsible for my success.  I was.  If government was the basis of success, then there would be no Solyndras, no Volts, no Edsels,  no New Coke, no one in prison, no high school dropouts (each year more than a million Americans—that's 7,000 every school day—are dropping out of high school), no teenage pregnancies, no drug addicts, no divorces, no failed businesses, etc.

It wouldn't have taken Thomas Edison 9,999 times before he successfully discovered how to make an incandescent light bulb.  Michael Jordan wouldn't have lost almost 300 games, missed over 9,000 shots at goal, and missed the game-winning shot 26 times when he was given the ball for the score.  Neither the Challenger nor the Columbia would have exploded.  The housing market wouldn't have collapsed.  The financial system wouldn't have have collapsed.  The tech bubble wouldn't have burst.   No, none of this would have happened if government was the answer since it played a major role in many...not the things having to do with Edison and Jordan, obviously.  That reminds me, if government were the answer, why are you such an average b-ball player and a 29 bowler?

If government was the root cause of all success, Social Security and Medicare wouldn't be broke.  The American public educational system wouldn't have continued on a steady decline since the creation of the Department of Education.  America's longest war, the War on Poverty, beating its second --  the Indian Wars, which lasted 46 years -- by a year and still going strong, would have had an exit strategy that long ago would have been taken after a successful defeat of poverty.  Yet, the poverty rate is about the same as it was in 1965.  The War on Drugs, which now has lasted longer than World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Bosnian War, the Iraq War, and the ongoing Afghanistan War, would have long ago been successfully won...if government was the root of success.

Now, you've said to entrepreneurs:

 

"If you've got a business, you didn't build that.  Somebody else made that happen."

Huh?  You're telling these hard workers, who overcome unbelievable odds to succeed (You do know that 50% of businesses don't survive their first year, don't you?), that they are only where they are because "somebody" invested in roads and businesses?   JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK "SOMEBODY" IS? IT ISN'T "GOVERNMENT."

GOVERNMENT, LIKE CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS, IS PEOPLE, MY FRIEND, and, in this case, those people are called "taxpayers."   Many of these people just happen to open businesses.  They invested in those roads and bridges.  Indeed, the 50% of the businesses that will fail THIS YEAR used those very same roads and bridges.

So, while the failed businessman is getting his debts wiped away in bankruptcy court, you want to hike the taxes on the successful man for a business that you claim "he didn't build and someone else made happen."  JUST EXACTLY WHO BUILT HIS BUSINESS THEN? WHICH SOMEONES MADE IT HAPPEN AND WHY DIDN'T THEY MAKE THE OTHER GUY'S FAILED BUSINESS SUCCEED?

Sometimes, you just make absolutely no sense or, more likely, you slipp up and say what you really think.  When I died, you released this statement:

"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

BY BUILDING ONE OF THE PLANET'S MOST SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES FROM HIS GARAGE, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.  By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.  Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world."

 

I remember my mum always ribbing my dad saying, "Behind every great man is a good woman"...although I think that she had it reversed.  It seems that you are determined to change that to "Behind every man, woman, and child -- be they good or bad, successes or failures, honest or untrustworthy, peaceful or warring -- is, Behold!, thy mighty, omnipotent government!"

Dude, that's just not how Americans roll.

A couple of years ago, you asked me “Why can’t [manufacturing jobs created by iPhone demand] come home?”  I looked you in the eye and told you,  “THOSE JOBS AREN'T COMING BACK" ... AND I TOLD YOU WHY.

I told you that your "administration was not business-friendly and that it was impossible to build a factory in the United States due to regulations and unnecessary costs."  I stressed that the American education system was "hopelessly antiquated" and crippled by the teachers' unions, who selfishly put their demands above everything, including the common good and the children's own welfare, including physical safety.

The government makes it impossible to do business and the educational system doesn't produce qualified workers.   A doctorate in Critical LGBT & Race Theory might make for some interesting banter in the faculty lounge, but it is absolutely worthless in the real world.  As you may recall, Apple's factories needed 30,000 skilled engineers — something the United States lack and the American educational system was not producing.  China has tonnes of brilliantly-trained engineers and scientists.  American doesn't, but it does have armies of abysmally-trained apparatchiks and technocrats.

I suggested that, if you really want to win the future, then you would have to make the tax and regulatory systems competitive, overhaul the education system, extend the school year to eleven months with 11 hour days, look at the European system of testing to determine who is college material, break with the teachers' unions, and reward science and math scholars.

If you want even the slightest chance of being reelected and doing so with a real mandate, as opposed to 2008, you had better stop insulting the American people.   You have to stop demeaning them.  Individuals and groups have an innate sense of pride in jobs they've done well.  You can't tell them that they didn't build their businesses -- someone else did.   You can't tell them that they owe their success to someone else and that they never sacrificed, but, rather, someone else did and was never given an equal opportunity to "suffer your success."

I remember when Progressives like you wanted everyone to get a trophy, no tests to be graded in red ink, chant "everyone is special," etc.  Well, in your rabid and maniacal push for radical egalitarianism, you are telling millions of your fellow Americans that they do not deserve a trophy for actually succeeding.  In fact, they deserve to be punished with higher taxes, more regulatory red tape, a diminished standard of living, commonness, ridicule, demonisation, and to be used as whipping boyz and gurlz to rile up your Lunatic Left base.

You are telling millions of Americans, who sacrificed, risked everything, worked on holidays when an employee called in ill, and worried about revenues while the 9-5 crowd was partying it up on Ladies' Night, that not only are they less than special, they aren't even above room temperature when it comes to intelligence, responsibility, perseverance, creative, capable of dreaming, formulating a plan, and bringing their ideas to fruition.

Must you tear down millions in order to elevate yourself and the real losers in life...you know, the ones that consider "getting massages" on the taxpayers' dime and "bedrest" to be "work" in order for them to qualify for welfare cheques, food stamps, low income housing, free cellphones, Medicaid, and a whole host of other "social and economic justice" benefits?

If you think that is a winning strategy, once again, I reiterate:  "I'M DISAPPOINTED IN YOU."

Sincerely,

Steve Jobs' Ghostwriter

PS:  The Rebirthed Steve Jobs told me to tell you this:

 "Er, not only did you "not build that" Peace Prize, you didn't even earn or deserve it, Mr Drone Man."

Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds

Hey, hey, hey ,hey
Ohhh...

Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby

Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love's strange so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on

Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby

Don't You Forget About Me
Don't Don't Don't Don't
Don't You Forget About Me

Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down

Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ohhhh.....

Don't you try to pretend
It's my feeling we'll win in the end
I won't harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity and security

Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby
Going to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, baby

Hey, hey, hey ,hey
Ohhh...

Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby

Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love's strange so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on

Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby

Don't You Forget About Me
Don't Don't Don't Don't
Don't You Forget About Me

Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down

Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down

Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ohhhh.....

Don't you try to pretend
It's my feeling we'll win in the end
I won't harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity and security

Don't you forget about me
I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby
Going to take you apart
I'll put us back together at heart, baby

Don't You Forget About Me
Don't Don't Don't Don't
Don't You Forget About Me

As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
When you walk away

Or will you walk away?
Will you walk on by?
Come on - call my name
Will you all my name?

I say :
La la la...

I say :
La la la...