“‘The reality is that government, for a long period of time, has for whatever set of reasons become less functional and isn’t working at the speed that it once was. And so it does fall, I think, not just on business but on all other areas of society to step up,'” Andrew Ross Sorkin reports for The New York Times. “That was Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, across the table from me over breakfast here in downtown Austin late last week at the end of a mini-tour across the country during which he focused on topics usually reserved for politicians: manufacturing, jobs and education.”
“As Mr. Cook’s breakfast arrived — two scrambled egg whites, crispy bacon (they didn’t have his preferred turkey bacon), sugar-free cereal with unsweetened almond milk — he described his week, punctuated by a visit the night before to the L.B.J. Presidential Library, the museum of President Lyndon B. Johnson,” Sorkin reports. “‘One of the things that hits you,’ he said, is ‘all of the major acts, legislation, that happened during just his presidency.’ His eyes widened as he listed some: ‘You have the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Act, you have Medicare, you have Medicaid, you have several national parks, you have Head Start, you have housing discrimination, you have jury discrimination… Regardless of your politics,’ he continued, ‘you look at it and say, ‘My gosh.””
“Mr. Cook’s comments weren’t a dig at President Trump so much as they were a critique of Washington’s seemingly perpetual state of gridlock,” Sorkin reports. “As we finished up breakfast… I mentioned a question that some in Silicon Valley and elsewhere have asked: Is his focus on jobs and speeches in front of American flags a hint at something bigger? After all, Mark Zuckerberg’s name is now regularly bandied about in discussions of potential presidential candidates. ‘I have a full-time job,’ Mr. Cook said. ‘I appreciate the compliment,’ he added with a wry look, ‘if it is a compliment.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There are far worse things than gridlock.
Gridlock is what our system is designed for. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, October 6, 2011
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? — James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788
SEE ALSO:
Apple, J.P. Morgan under fire for donations to notorious Southern Poverty Law Center – August 28, 2017
Tim Cook on whether he’s running for the U.S. presidency: ‘You’ve got to be kidding’ – August 25, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook plummets 45 spots in employee ratings – June 22, 2017
Apple CEO Cook on President Trump, Steve Jobs’ legacy, and more – June 15, 2017
Apple CEO Cook To MIT grads: You must have hacked President Trump’s Twitter account – June 9, 2017
Apple CEO Cook slams President Trump’s decision to withdraw from climate deal; says it’s ‘wrong for our planet’ – June 1, 2017
Apple CEO Cook calls President Trump as Elon Musk threatens to quit White House advisory councils over Paris decision – May 31, 2017
Apple CEO Cook chides President Trump Counselor Kellyanne Conway over ‘alternative facts’ – April 19, 2017
Apple CEO Cook speaks out publicly against President Trump’s executive order, ‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States’ – February 9, 2017
Tim Cook: Apple does not support President Trump’s executive order, ‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States’ – January 30, 2017
Apple CEO Tim Cook dines with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, senior advisor to President Trump – January 27, 2017
Tim Cook explains to Apple employees why he met with President-elect Trump – December 20, 2016
President-elect Trump meets privately with Apple CEO Cook, tells tech leaders: ‘I’m here to help you folks do well’ – December 14, 2016
Apple CEO Cook emails employees, calls for unity after Donald Trump presidential win – November 10, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook and the rest of Silicon Valley throw big money at Clinton and pretty much bupkis at Trump – August 23, 2016
Apple CEO Tim Cook attends secret meeting with tech CEOs , top Republicans in plot to stop Trump – March 8, 2016
Tim Cook has let his personal politics affect Apple; Board may have to rein him in – June 25, 2015
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]