Oh, Mitch Daniels, you didn’t quite do enough research, did you?
The late Steve Jobs — what a fitting name he had — created more of them than all of those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew.
Of course, this weekend the New York Times ran a story entirely about how Apple ships a third of its jobs overseas. Beyond that, there are around 700,000 who work for Apple’s contractors:
[A]n additional 700,000 people engineer, build and assemble iPads, iPhones and Apple’s other products. But almost none of them work in the United States. Instead, they work for foreign companies in Asia, Europe and elsewhere, at factories that almost all electronics designers rely upon to build their wares.
“Apple’s an example of why it’s so hard to create middle-class jobs in the U.S. now,” said Jared Bernstein, who until last year was an economic adviser to the White House.
“If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried.”
So, yes, Steve Jobs created jobs, Mitch Daniels, but quite a few of them pay 35 cents an hour, are rewarded with a cup of tea and a biscuit, and happen to be located in China.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.
Seems as though you’re a bit short-sighted. Jobs was a stimulus package. He revived industries that were predicted to die due to piracy and online content–iTunes has created a legal market for film, television, music, books and magazines. He created an industry of programmers who make millions off of the apps they create. And he created products that were perfect for accessories, like Michael Kors iPad bags. His Apple stores reinvented the retail store consumer experience. And so many people’s jobs are dependent on Apple software, such as graphic designers and movie editors. Jobs didn’t just make technological devices. He repurposed them to reinvent the way we interact with technology, thereby creating, saving, and simplifying so many American jobs.