Earlier this month The Wall Street Journal ran an article about how Apple, the corporate computer giant, has more money that the US government and an opinion piece suggesting how Apple would run the United States government since they seem to be doing such a great job in running a profitable company.
First of all it upset me that there is a company, and probably lots of other US companies, that have more money at their disposal than the US government. Can't they pay for all of the wars in the Middle East and leave the US Government out of this?
The opinion piece upset me because the author cited all the things that he thought Apple would do to run a successful country, but he forgot some important aspects of the Apple business model.
Apple's brand is the cutting edge, because they operate in a country that made the cutting edge possible through a high standard of living. Living in the United States has had the same appeal as Apple products, because this is such a great place to live, everyone wants to immigrate here, just like everyone wants to buy Apple products because they can perform like no other products. They are always the first to market with innovative ideas, and the United States has traditionally been the first choice of many citizens of other countries looking to escape their less than desirable living conditions. Therefore, the United States has the cutting edge thing down pat, especially when it comes to quality of life.
The other thing that Apple does so well, which was completely overlooked by the WSJ author was that Apple's business model is totally protectionist. You have to buy all your apps, music, videos, and other content for Apple devices directly through their iTunes store. Apple hardware and software comes directly from Apple. There is no other competition. You buy from the iTunes store and nowhere else. There is no opportunity for free market competition. They set the price they want, they make the profits they want. That is what has made Apple so successful. That, the cutting edge thing, and nothing else.
If anyone dare suggest protectionism for the United States economy, they will be at the very least verbally drawn and quartered by politicians , the media and the wealthy lobbyists that control them. How can you isolate the United States in the new global economy? It would be such a step backward. It would be a step backward for wealthy people who want to bring labor costs down to nothing, and the American standard of living to unimaginable lows.
But this doesn't make any sense, don't you want to protect what you have? The wealthy want to protect what they earned by not paying any taxes. I wish this country could protect what it has through tariffs and limited trade, but Washington will not do this because it has its hands tied by big business and big money.
We must adopt the Apple model of protectionism if this country is to survive, and escape this bottomless pit of recession. Only this will save us.
