Steve Jobs, "The brain of a century"
Steve Jobs co-creator of Apple was born in 1955 and died in 2011. Throughout his life he was known as a visionary to most people in the public eye, in his private life he was a man who loved and adored his family. The man was many things, a creator, marketing genius, innovator and a hugely successful business man. Steve Jobs is the reason Apple is what it is today, one of the most valuable business's in the world. He returned to the company when it was near bankruptcy and turned the companies fortunes right around with his brilliant ideas. Steve died of a rare form of pancreatic cancer but this has been known to the world for the last number of years that his death would be sooner rather then later. He embraced this and said knowing he had so little time to live made him cherish each day more then the last. Many people figured out that he was incredibly sick as he did not appear at the launch of the iPhone 4S on Tuesday just gone. Two days later his death was announced by Apple. Almost immediately tributes from public figures and business leaders started to flood in about the man. Bill Gates described working with the man as "an insanely great honour". While Barack Obama called him a "visionary". Apple stores around the world were made to be places of tribute to the grieving Apple community.
Apple made Jobs a multi-millionaire before he was even 25. Jobs and his associate Steve Wozniack helped influence the future generations of computers from one of their first inventions the Apple II. One of their best known inventions was the Apple iPod. It was not the first or the last music player on the market but it was by far the most successful ever. Again the iPhone was not the first smart phone but I can tell you one thing I never heard of a smartphone before the iPhone started being mentioned. Now most people carry smartphone`s, it may not be the iPhone but it is a type of smartphone. Apple, thanks to Jobs and lets not forget Wozniack has revolutionized the way we obtain and consume media and the way the music industry has evolved.
In 1985 Jobs was forced out of Apple, he then went into one of the most creative periods of his life. He created Pixar one of the worlds best known studious for animated films such as Toy Story, Wall-e and Small Soldiers. He also created a company called NeXT. Apple ended up buying NeXT and Jobs eventually became CEO of Apple.
Jobs has been one of the main men behind the most successful products of Apple such as the iPod, iPad, iPhone and Mac series among other things such as the iTunes store. After his death it has been said that Jobs has left at least 5 years of Apple product ideas in the pipeline. I for one thank this man for everything he did for the world while alive, and everything he will do for the world after his death. This tribute is for Steve Jobs may he rest in peace and the world thanks god for the great man that was Steve Jobs, and the legacy he left behind.
Ireland...."A new third world"
Michael Lewis for all who may not know him is an American financial journalist and best selling author. He has also basically condemned Ireland along with Iceland and Greece. For we in his words are part of "the new third world". His metaphor for the global economic crisis is: what do people do when they find themselves in a dark room full of money? Well I for one know what I'd so try get as much in my pockets as quickly and as humanly possible. This is why I'm not running this country instead we have men who in the dark room together decided you know what we'l take all the money and just buy Ireland be damned. That got us to where we are now. Up s*** creek without a paddle!! Excuse my french of course.
Lewis's judgement on Iceland is that the "alpha males" ruined the country and that is why the country has its first lesbian head of state. The women of the country realized the men hadn't got a notion what they were doing and were highly dangerous with money in their grasp. Lewis says the US itself has behave like "a drug addict". Each level of society is willing to sacrifice long-term interests for short-term wants. This cannot be sustained in the long run you will want and need certain things in life like health care, a car, a house etc. He also talks about the state of California where he resides, he says it is "shifting its insolvency to local governments". A town in California called Vallejo is gone so down hill that there are no police to protect the people, the traffic lights don't work anywhere and the shops have put up signs stating they accept food stamps.
Lewis blames America for the most part of the economics disaster saying american fingerprints can be found wherever a financial disaster occurs. He blames the citizens also saying all they do is want services but not the charge that goes along with them, the day of reckoning for this problem is fast coming he predicts. In relation to american fingerprints being found everywhere Lewis believes US president Barack Obama should have nationalised the banks instead of bailing them out. Obama cant believe the bankers he bailed out are now fighting regulation that is trying to be brought in so the problem never recurs again.
Lewis believes Greece is already in the process of defaulting and German chanceller Angela Merkel and Greek prime minister George Papandreou will be forced out of office. He also believes Greece will leave the Euro and their creditors will take huge losses. When asked about the difference between Ireland and Greece he simply says "the Irish just have a greater talent for suffering". He is quite right in my opinion with the whole famine and oppression situations not to mention the hard recessions the Irish people have came through before. Lewis said if the Irish situation was happening in Greece "their would be someone shot". Well there hasn't been anyone shot in Ireland for this reason yet, so lets hope riots don't start breaking out because this would just mean more problems and misery for the Irish people and surely they have suffered enough?
Dublin..."The Twitter Revolution"
Dublin could soon become one of the silicon valleys of the world if multi-national corporations have their way with the city. Twitter is the latest Tech firm to announce they will be opening an office in Dublin in the future. Paddy Cosgrave who is the mastermind behind Twitter believes Ireland's graduates have the potential to make the city one of the greatest Tech cities in the world. While people may often say these kind of firms only come to Ireland due to our low corporation tax, Mr.Cosgrave says that couldn't be further from the the truth to why he picked Dublin for one of Twitters biggest base's. Ireland has a ready supply of workforce that are more then eager to get on the job front after they have their degrees from college. Google know this also and employ an estimated 2,000 people in Ireland.
There are tax loopholes in most countries so Ireland cannot be blamed for taking investment just for the low corporation tax. as these countries could easily go elsewhere to set up business ventures. Thanks to these investment companies Ireland have had a 49% increase since 2009 and have gained 6 billion in tax revenue. The companies that invest also spend an estimated 16 billion in direct spending. These companies like Twitter, Google, Amazon etc see Ireland as a village on the edge of Europe so a prime position for most of their European headquarters. Ireland do not want to be seen as a Tax haven and we are not breaking any EU laws as we are in correspondence with all of them. Ireland's reputation is on the line and the future of the country. The US though do not like the way many American companies are investing in Ireland and setting their operation up over here as that is all off-shore money in there books. Ireland has the potential to become one of the most globalized economies in the world and this year for the first time in 4 years there has been growth in the economy. One of the main concerns for Ireland is to create sustainable prosperity throughout the country. If this can be achieved Ireland will be more then halfway towards the final destination....No more recession!
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