“Billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Apple Computer Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs are advising Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on economic issues. Kerry, 60, the four-term Massachusetts senator challenging President George W. Bush, ‘reached out to them and they’re giving him economic advice about the deficit and job creation,’ said David Wade, Kerry’s campaign spokesman,” Jon Steinman reports for Bloomberg News.
Steinman reports, “Neither Buffett, the world’s second-richest man according to Forbes magazine, nor Jobs, who ranks 262 on the Forbes list of billionaires, has personally contributed to Kerry’s campaign… Apple Computer employees since January 2003 have given a total of $7,251 to Kerry.”
“Jobs, 49, has 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore on Apple’s board of directors. A spokesman for Jobs had no immediate comment,” Steinman reports. “According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, in a three-way race that includes independent Ralph Nader, 70, Bush would get support from 43 percent of voters and Kerry would get 41 percent. The survey was conducted April 23-27.”
Full article here.
Uh-oh……………
Let the vitriol begin.
I reckon that is not surprising. I figured Jobs to be somewhat liberal, but at least he doesn’t wear it on his sleeve. As a fundamentalist conservative, I really didn’t care either way when he appointed Gore on the board. I am not sure what he contributes, but I reckon that Jobs wanted his influence and expertise. Apple’s products are apolitical and I love them and own shares in Apple. I try not to get all wrapped up in people’s (CEO) political leanings and where they may spend their money; whether I agree with them or not. I don’t buy from SmallDog because he flaunts his views (his right, of course) and his commentaries are offensive to me.
Yeah, news posts like this are intentional bait.
Stuburn Steve for President…..?
In Europe Mr. Kerry would win, if we had anything to say here.
‘Buffett, 73, who heads the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. investment company, has criticized Bush’s tax cuts as “welfare” for the rich.’
I love it when billionaires complain that they pay too little in taxes. If Buffett and others want to make a contribution to reduce the federal deficit there is no law prohibiting this. As far as I know altruism is neither a criminal activity nor is giving one’s money away a social taboo.
In politics often the simple solution is ignored and the simplistic one propagandized.
This just makes me feel more and more comfortable about supporting Kerry.
I am in the ABB (Anybody But Bush) camp and Kerry seems like a good alternative.
Let’s see who can resist the urge for vitriol…I can think of at least three who are likely to fail. As a Republican, this doesn’t bother me a bit, though it might if Steve wore his politics on his sleave and started spouting off all the time. He’s a great computer maker–who cares about the rest?
I’m in the NBB camp (just guess).
It would be amazing if this thread doesn’t dissolve into a political flame war.
opps here we go!
My guesstimates is we are going to have Bush for another term, people are going to reward him for taking care of the terrorism business.
Kerry doesn’t have a leg to stand on and making a weak attempt to say the Iraq thing was a bad idea. Some of the pro-left media is trying to stir up shit by broadcasting the mistreatment of Iraqi soldiers and reading off the war dead.
These radical Islamic types declared war on us and killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11th, we are justified to go in there and take the fight out of them before they come to our shores again with something even deadlier than a few jumbo jets.
The Israeli/Arab land/religious/racial war doesn’t help things out any either.
One can blame the religious radical Likud party who think they own the land Israel use to be on over 2000 years ago and are doing God’s work.
I think if God with all his power, can make things happen in such a way as not to cause hardship, discrimination, racism and death and tarnish his image of a loving God.
But since Israel has always been a waring people, I think the idea of “God” is just nothing more than religious propaganda to get people to follow and kill other human beings.
Religion is for the dumb and weak minded. But we all are herd animals, we like to part of a group and it’s frustrating to us not to be part of something.
The intelligent walk their own path, it’s a hard one, but neccessary.
So being Mac user makes us a group and it’s not like Steve Jobs is filling our heads full of hate, giving us a snow job or trying to kill others.
He want to make us happy computer users.
That should ge the party started…
please, please, please, let kerry win
Steve Jobs has always been a contributor to the Democrats and a supporter of left-wing political causes. I am a conservative Republican (BTW- GWB is NOT a conservative and barely a Republican, Conservatives don’t run $500 Billion Defecits) and really don’t care who Steve Jobs supports.
I’m not voting for GWB and wouldn’t vote for Kerry even if I agreed with his views (not the old ones- the ones as of 11:47 CST 1 May, 2004 & they will change), I just do not trust him: he seems the kind who wants to be President not to accomplish specific things- he just wants to be President. I see GWB as a man with similar motivation, he didn’t come with a list of things to accomplish, he just wanted the job.
One could do a lot worse than have WB and SJ giving advice on business and economic issues, they both have a wealth of experience and enough age to temper their idealism. Kerry could do a lot worse.
Sailfish:
You’re off-base on Israel. Regardless of Likud, the Barak government and a continuing majority of the public has been willing to turn over about 95% of the West Bank and Gaza in return for peace (and other territory to make them whole to 100%). The offer was spurned, the current terrorist wave was launched, and continues. Sure, there are some extremists on the Israeli side, but there is no moral equivalence here…
As a Texan and a conservative (even though I am a college student) I prefer GB over Kerry. People can blame Bush all they want for the deficit and economy but its a trend that started under Clintons 8 year watch and Democrats are still sore about Gore losing in a way that hasnt happened since FDR won the presidency. It would be nice to start having more blurred lines between the parties and start getting some more things done and get congress’ ass in gear by forcing them to remove their special social security plan they voted for themselves and get them in our pool so they will do something more than putting a band aid on our futures while theirs are guaranteed. Problem with this country is that we let the news conglomerates tell us what they think we should know and tell us how to think and the majority go along with it instead of telling our representatives what we really want and need. Clean energy, clean water, safe neighborhoods, good safe schools, broadband across the country.
Sometime in the future this country is gonna have to bite the bullet and allow the government to allocate sufficient funds to retool and revamp this countrys power structure. We just need to figure out how to do it efficiently.
Bush is cleaning up the ignored mess left by Clinton/Gore in the middle east.
Running a debt is nothing for the US, the Fed can print up more money at anytime and pay everyone off. The US is the #1 economy in the world, running a small debt has more of a beneficial physiological effect on the nation than a surplus does.
What are we going to do? Pave the roads with gold?
Democrats want socialism, which everyone gets a handout from the government and don’t work or keep themselves busy. Crime increases because of idle hands and minds. Just look at areas of the country where Democrats rule, it’s economically stagnant, everyone is on welfare.
Republicans want capitalism, where everyone is a slave and working their asses off. This keeps people busy, and in the pursuit of a hopefully a better life with money, people work their asses off to make a buck, start business etc. On the other hand those who can’t play this game, handicapped, mentally deranged, under-skilled, get left out.
So we as a nation keep bouncing back and forth between the two extremes, the result is a moderate country with a few things falling through the cracks.
Will a socialism approach solve the homeless problem?
Will a capitalism approach solve the homeless problem?
Will a socialized medicine be better? Or should we stick with the capitalistic medicine we have now?
We have enough wealth in this country to give everyone a cheap house and food for life, problem is people will be idle and chaotic without something to keep them busy.
To keep them busy a system was designed to motivate them by making them work for food and housing. Necessary human needs.
We all play the economic game to get our needs, if that breaks down we will resort to crime, war etc.
Sailfish:
“Religion is for the dumb and weak minded.”
It is possible to be a friend of God and not be religious, but there are many, like you, who cannot distinguish between the institutions of religion (man made) from our individual responsibilities in prioritizing relationships (God derived). You ought to reconsider your biases, prejudices, and pretexts; and realize that it is ultimately all about our individual willingness to obey that each of us will be held to account. [Read Matthew 22:36-40.]
Kerry definitely needs advice on the economic and environmental fronts. I mean I’d like to give this guy a chance. After all, I did not vote for Bush last time. But it is very hard for me to be impressed with Kerry’s campaign about creating ten million jobs in four years! Come on, give me a break! Who is he trying to fool and woo? What kind of an economic growth are we talking about to generate ten, I mean TEN MILLION JOBS in four years? 1000% GNP? Just think, even all the ten million jobs are for flipping burgers, the economic implication is enormous!!!! I am not the gullible and neither should anybody. On the environmental front, he criticizes Bush’s policy and the lack of intervention on gasoline prices but at the same time he drives a SUV!!!!! The voters are far too intelligent to buy into this kind BS and I think if he keeps doing this, he WILL FAIL!!!!
Sailfish,
It seems crass and insensitive to talk about people in a disparaging way to make a rather generalized point. You ought to ashamed that you choose to incite people with insults rather than stimulate thought. Some �intelligent� people apparently don�t have to make excuses for rudeness and offensiveness. You really need to do a bit more study and self examination before you place the crown of intellectualism on your own head.
“But since Israel has always been a waring people, I think the idea of “God” is just nothing more than religious propaganda to get people to follow and kill other human beings.” – Sailfish
Funny, history records that Israel was attacked over and over by her neighbors. Even when Israel attacked first, it was Egypt who blockaded Israel which is a casus beli for a war. Even now, organizations protected by Arab governments are hell bent to “drive the Jews to the sea” and “erase Israel from the world map”. I don’t know about you, but if a neighboring country actively protects terrorist organizations whose main purpose is to kill off everyone, I’d take the government responsible. We know that 9/11 people were based in Hamburg, but Germany doesn’t protect them. Just imagine if Germany protected and funded this organization, what would you do?
For the other point, I agree though. Religions are supposed to bring love and peace, but in many cases, too many people foster hate, bring misery and die because of them.
Harry: re your comment; in Europe Mr. Kerry would win, if we had anything to say here.
Harry, you don’t have anything to say about it, and that is a good thing.
German companies built Sadaam’s bunkers. Yes, we sold Sadaam weapons a long time ago, BUT WE STOPPED! The French delivered missiles up till the last week before last years’ war, and only pulled out their military advisors to Sadaam about 3 days before things got hot. And the French, Germans, and Russians are the ones who really want the oil contracts that they had with Sadaam to come back into play.
That might be ok for the oil contracts to go through if the Iraqi people benefited, but they did not under Sadaam, and it won’t be any different if administered by the corrupt and incompetent UN, which is what many seem to want.
We make mistakes, but we do not come close to the stuff that the rest do on purpose!
“If Buffett and others want to make a contribution to reduce the federal deficit there is no law prohibiting this. As far as I know altruism is neither a criminal activity nor is giving one’s money away a social taboo.” – meat of moose
And what would that accomplish? Even if Gates gives every single penny he has, it won’t make even a small dent on the national debt. Goverments (especially the size of the US gov) can piss away $50B easily, especially when that $50B is free (they don’t even have to spend political favors or get taxpayers angry). What needs to be fixed is the infrastructure to ensure that the budget is as balanced as possible without introducing social hardship and chaos, weakening the military, endangering education, etc. for years to come. One time payment is useless.
Warning, an analogy is coming: It’s like this. I’d prefer someone giving me a job for $20 a week to a one time gift of $100. Sure, I’d have to work, but I won’t have to worry what to eat after I spent that $100 if I choose the other option.
As a native New Yorker, as someone who knew people who died on 9-11, and as someone who can still remember the smell of the smoke from Ground Zero, I think I have a better perspective on W and his so-called fight against terrorism.
W is not making the US safer. I blame him and his administration for failing to see the writing on the walls (or, really, the writing on the memos). He failed as my President to protect my city and my country. He is misguidingly spending BILLIONS of dollars on a war that has nothing to do with terrorism.
Look, I’m all for helping out other countries, for kicking dictators out, and for helping to develop democratic governments, but really, is this the time to do so?
Those billion of dollars spent ridding Irag of Saddam should have been spent on developing and enchancing our intelligence communities, on truly revamping all types of transportation security. Those billions should have been spent helping cities across the nation to create better police forces.
Because of September 11, and the need to spend millions on city defense resources, NYC has had to cut more and more from her budget. One of the things to go was fire stations. Across the city, stations that have been around for 80+ years closed down. Why? Well, that money was needed to pay for added security everywhere. Do you think the 343 firefighters that died were replaced on September 12th? And there is more, too, but still, I hope I am making my point.
All of you who post on this site (those in America, anyway), must surely realize that a sound and coherent home defense strategy is needed (and don’t get me started on this Department of Homeland Security crap). Honestly, would you rather see 700+ men and women die in Iraq and spend BILLONS of dollars destorying and then rebuilidng that nation than having those men and women here in the States and that money going to make your city, your state and your country safer?
Iraq was never a threat. It was an annoying pest. It was a reminder to W that his dad didn’t go all the way with the Gulf War. No proof that they ever were a threat exists.
I’m not going to vote along party lines. I never do. I vote based on how I feel will do the best job. I wish McCain was running, but since he isn’t, I’m voting for Kerry. At least Kerry knows what a war is like first hand. W only knows what a war was like from watching TV news between shots of whiskey and lines of white heaven.
Mac User
In the Palestinians eyes, all of Israel is their land, and has been for over 2000 years. The Arabs knew of the Hebrew aspirations of resurrecting a long dead country and tried to stop them when it was apparent they were going to result to force to accomplish their goals.
Jews could have lived in peace with the Arabs and Christians in the Holy land previously called Palestine like it was for over 2000 years under Muslin rule.
But the Zionists lead by the extremist right wing types decided to forgo peace and harmony and reason and re-establish Israel when surrounded by Muslim countries. The result is the abortion and the continuous conflict we see today. Palestinians can’t get on with their lives because they don’t know when more of their land is going to be stolen against the mandates of the UN which established set lines between the two.
Since then Israel has been enacting anti-Arab laws, discrimination, racial quotas, bulldozing their own Arab-Israeli citizens houses, and making land grabs, setting people in Palestinian areas, creating “facts on the ground” killing innocent people and children.
This is not the work of God, but of pure evil. Jews and Arabs get along quite well in countries like Turkey. In the US we all get along despite our religious and cultural, racial differences.
In Israel that’s the opposite, Arabs are viewed as inferior. If your not a Jew you got nothing coming, even Christians are unwelcome. Even the dupes in the US that support Israel believing some propaganda that this evil is God’s will. They come to Israel to visit but are not allowed to become citizens or take part in the country or government because they are “goyium” or non-jew.
This is pure religious discrimination, it’s wrong and the US should not be supporting this. The State Department doesn’t, but our elected officials cater to the 5 million jewish lobby for their votes.
Clinton did by granting pardons to dozens of jewish criminals, Bush did by giving Sharon the “ok” to keep the illegal settlements in the West Bank.
It’s not anti-semantic to criticize the actions of Israel or the actions of some Jews in regard to their policies, I don’t hate. It’s just something wrong is being done by us as Christians, Americans and Jews towards the Arab population that is fueling terrorism and hate.
Peanuts is right,
Israel is a democracy of jews, not respecive of the inhabitants who lived in the land for over 2000 years. Those millions of Palestinians are still in refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries, not true citizens of any country anymore.
I’ll guess MacUser would just roll over if I came and took his house, car and land. Killed his children and exported his ass to Mexico to live in a shanty shack across the border and drink from the polluted river.
Then turn around and give his land to my religious friends and call him a terrorist if he fought back.
What a asshole.
PS Sailfish, not all religious people are dumb. Chill dude, some of us have a brain.
Israel is a illegal country, just because it existed for a brief hundred years 2000 years ago doesn’t give justification to deny others of their country for it.
Muslins of Palestine were very religiously tolerant, they accepted Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land. Everyone got along.
Until the Zionists came along of course.
“I’m not going to vote along party lines. I never do. I vote based on how I feel will do the best job. I wish McCain was running, but since he isn’t, I’m voting for Kerry. At least Kerry knows what a war is like first hand. W only knows what a war was like from watching TV news between shots of whiskey and lines of white heaven.”
While I certainly respect what you went through in NY City, it would be disgrace for you to vote for John Kerry. I have done some analyses on the man and he’s not an improvement on President Bush (who I openly admit is a flawed man). For instance, Kerry’s flip-flopped on everything from Iraq to gay marriage and he’s going to keep doing it, from all the indications I see. He doesn’t understand the problems of the world. Even his seemingly heroic role as a soldier in Vietnam is overshadowed by questions of truthfulness on certain matters when he got home.
I have no problem with you not wanting to support President Bush in your vote, but John Kerry is not a special guy. He won’t do any better. If you don’t want to vote for Bush, that’s fine, but please don’t vote for some like John Kerry. That would be such a waste.