Steve Jobs

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/08/steve-jobs

Steve Jobs's resignation as CEO of Apple offers an opportunity to reflect on a great success story of America and capitalism. Where else, and under what other system, could someone without a college degree, whose biological father, a Syrian professor named Abdulfattah Jandali, gave him up for adoption, build a company so successful that it that amassed a greater store of cash than the U.S. government and annual revenue approximately twice the annual GDP of the entire country of Syria? My first home computer was an Apple Macintosh bought in the 1980s, and I've put out at least four different newspapers and four different Web sites on Apple machines.

That's not to say that either Apple or Mr. Jobs is perfect; I've been skeptical of him and his admirers in several posts on this site. But for a guy who started out making computers in his parents' spare bedroom before moving to the world's most famous garage, it's been quite a trip. And at a moment when everyone seems to be dwelling on the failures of America or of the free enterprise system — unemployment, deficits and debt, volatility, debasement of the dollar — Mr. Jobs's story is a positive reminder of the potential that has been open here to would-be-entrepreneurs. Perhaps it will inspire some young college dropout who is a son or daughter of an immigrant and who is dreaming up the next great invention in his parents' spare bedroom or garage.

by Ira Stoll  |  Aug 24, 2011 at 11:11 pm receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list