Steve Jobs for President?

Apple, Inc., now has more money than America, Inc.

Apple blossom: a road to brighter future?

Apple's third quarter results showing its continued astounding commercial success coincided with the sad picture of the US President and congressmen bickering over the bill to raise the debt ceiling without which the country could have defaulted.

A BBC news report compared the operating cash balance of the US government and Apple which showed that the computer company now has more cash to spend than the US Treasury. (links to official documents on the BBC site).

Now, I've stuck with Macs for over twenty years now, for better and for worse, buying a new one even in 1997 when everybody thought the company was about to fail. I am not an American citizen or taxpayer, but if I were I'd think to myself: shouldn't someone like Steve Jobs, or whoever runs Apple's finances, be better at running the US finances than Obama, Geithner and the Congress? Maybe there is a way of sending them all, the 'Big Goverment' inside the Beltway, on a sabbatical for a quarter or two, or maybe a year, and let Jobs and his people run America, Inc. for a while? Maybe they can turn it around?

Just a thought.

The BBC report says:

Apple now has more cash to spend than the United States government. Latest figures from the US Treasury Department show that the country has an operating cash balance of $73.7bn (£45.3bn). Apple's most recent financial results put its reserves at $76.4bn.

The United States is currently spending around $200bn more than it collects in revenue every month. In the three months ending 25 June, net income was 125 percent higher than a year earlier at $7.31bn. Apple, on the other hand, is making money hand over fist, according to its financial results.

From Apple's 2011 third quarter results press-release:

The Company sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.54 million iPods, a 20 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”

Photo by ©A.Anichkin