Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sunday Stuff

Steve Jobs, visionary American genius of technology (here)…
In one of his last public appearances before his death, Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, addressed Cupertino’s City Council last June, seeking approval to build a new headquarters. 
Most of the Council was effusive in its praise of the proposal. But one councilwoman, Kris Wang, had questions. 
How will residents benefit? she asked. Perhaps Apple could provide free wireless Internet to Cupertino, she suggested, something Google had done in neighboring Mountain View. 
“See, I’m a simpleton; I’ve always had this view that we pay taxes, and the city should do those things,” Mr. Jobs replied, according to a video of the meeting. “That’s why we pay taxes. Now, if we can get out of paying taxes, I’ll be glad to put up Wi-Fi.” 
He suggested that, if the City Council were unhappy, perhaps Apple could move. The company is Cupertino’s largest taxpayer, with more than $8 million in property taxes assessed by local officials last year. 
Ms. Wang dropped her suggestion.
And I give you still more…
Still, some, including De Anza College’s president, (Brian) Murphy, say the philanthropy and job creation do not offset Apple’s and other companies’ decisions to circumvent taxes. Within 20 minutes of the financially ailing school are the global headquarters of Google, Facebook, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco. 
“When it comes time for all these companies — Google and Apple and Facebook and the rest — to pay their fair share, there’s a knee-jerk resistance,” Mr. Murphy said. “They’re philosophically antitax, and it’s decimating the state.”
“But I’m not complaining,” he added. “We can’t afford to upset these guys. We need every dollar we can get.”
God Bless America, land of corporate extortion (and as a musical response, this never seems to get old – which is a bit sad, actually).


P.S. - For what it's worth, I don't like this layout either - I told you the "new and improved" Blogger stinks.

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