Steve Jobs, Wall Street, and Bernie Madoff
There seems to be no limit to the lack of intelligence within the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or the people who run it–nor in the Department of Justice (DOJ); the prosecutors for the SEC. They are now investigating whether Apple committed securities fraud by failing to inform the public about the details of CEO Steve Jobs health.
Yes, this is the same government agency that was responsible for overseeing the activities of Wall Street, and the actions of Bernie Madoff. Apparently, they thought Wall Street was doing everything right, and that Bernie was an ok guy–just doing his job–but that, somehow, Steve Jobs and Apple are in cahoots to defraud Apple shareholders.
Jobs health issues have been public for several years, at least since he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004. His successful operation and recovery was as public as the media could possibly make it. Why now, all of a sudden, does the SEC and the DOJ think they need to review Jobs medical records–can’t they just leave the poor man alone?
Anyone who has ever looked closely at Apple would certainly realize that Steve Jobs does not run Apple single-handedly. Jobs has built a strong organization of capable people, and Apple will become, and is, less and less dependent upon Steve Jobs, the person. Yes, he is the poster boy for Apple, but there is no such thing as an indispensable person–never was, and never will be. But, of course, shareholders, playing the Casino game called Wall Street, prefer to act like “chicken little” and create enough drama that the feds feel they must investigate. Besides, the SEC and DOJ need to take the spotlight off the sweetheart deal they just cut with Madoff.
So, the feds will storm Apple’s castle, and wring out every intimate detail of Jobs health. To me it is incomprehensible that investors are entitled to every little detail of his health when his health history has always been a matter of public record. Since these government agencies have historically been the poster boys for incompetence in dealing with businesses, it should come as no surprise that they are oblivious to common decency, and the desire by Jobs to have a little privacy while he tends to his medical needs.
Here’s a quaint suggestion: take some of the resources of the SEC and the DOJ and use them to oversee where the trillions of dollars of taxpayer money is going and how it is being spent. Now, that, I could support.
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