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rich only gets richer in this economy...

For some reason, these apple defense force thinks this is a good news to be heard.


:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I think his point is that with the right training and experience and put in the same job there are plenty of people just as smart, diligent and organized as Cook. I suspect that is true statement, but the assumptions aren't really fair. Where could those 100,000 people get the training and experience that Cook has? How could they prove to the Apple Board that they have the same or better skills than Cook? Since they can't do either, they really aren't competition for Cook. But I think the general point is true on some sort of theoretical level. The same could not be said, for example about an elite basketball player like Lebron James. We know that there aren't thousands of people out there with his size and speed, so we know he cannot easily be replaced. But CEOs, yes it seems their pay is a little high in comparison to what they seem to bring to the table.

But who knows, perhaps Cook has some special set of skills that are less common than 0.1%. I think Jobs had skills like that.

This is precisely what I was saying, yes. The difference between him, and them, is the areas of life and the circumstances they found themselves in.

The argument was made that, in short, Cook is one of only a handful of people in the world capable of doing what he does. This simply isn't true.

You're also right about LeBron; not that I'm particularly a fan, but from the start his height is already probably in the top .01%, and then there's skill and athleticism.

As for Steve being one-of-a-kind (or, rarer than .01%), I think that's debatable, but either way.. I personally would agree that he was of a rarer breed than Cook.

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Everything I know about Tim Cook reveals he's earned it.

Despite the image as painted by Apple, of his "warm & fuzzy" relationship with Jobs, insiders I know within Apple share about how he too, has been the target of many of Jobs relatively juvenile & vicious attacks. Therefore Cook has certainly paid his dues, and proven how tough he is.

...If putting up with a rude, condescending and disrespectful boss renders you deserving of large amounts of money, I think there are a few million people in America who might be wanting just compensation...
 
I don't think anyone deserves that much money. Now matter how good of a job they do, or what they do. It's simply too much for one person.

Unfortunately, a common issue among top execs. Apple is absolutely not excluded from this one either.
 
It's more difficult, sure.. but it isn't several orders of magnitude more difficult. I have to admit the way people like you deify the work of people like Cook is fairly amusing... what they do isn't all that difficult; you just need to be intelligent, diligent, and well-versed in your area of expertise.

There are hundreds of thousands (likely millions) of Americans who could do what Tim does.

It's not the level of difficulty it takes to perform a task, it's how valuable your work is for a company. Steve, Tim, and Jon Ives created tremendous value, billions and billions of dollars of value from their work. Not just any village idiot can run a company and turn profits like that - very few do. As is well documented in the news today, a lot of CEO's turn huge personal profits like that while lowering the value of the company they run - while at Apple the leaders have turned massive company profits and been rewarded for the work they provide. Not just the hours of the day, or the difficulty of the task. It's not something that just anybody can do. Look at all the failing businesses in your community, if they can't manage to keep open a small local shop, how on earth do you think they could run a Fortune 500 company?

People that create money via their work (Leadership, CEO, Sales, Entrepreneur) will always be paid more than those who only take (Teacher, Policeman, Fireman). As needed as the takers are, it's the creators that keep an economy alive. Every society that has sought to flip this has completely failed.

-- No, I haven't read all 6 pages and your other replies, and I'm sure you've addressed what I've said above...
 
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I don't think anyone deserves that much money. Now matter how good of a job they do, or what they do. It's simply too much for one person.

It's not like the government is giving Cook that money. A PRIVATE organization's board of directors voted to give him those options.
 
It's not the level of difficulty it takes to perform a task, it's how valuable your work is for a company.

And at absolutely no point was I arguing from a financial standpoint that the difficulty of one's job in any way dictates salary or compensation. This was a separate argument that you, being what you are, took out of context and ran away with.

I was responding to a very separate argument, and now you've gone off on a rant about something completely unrelated. Or, it's related, but it isn't relevant. Good work.

Steve, Tim, and Jon Ives created tremendous value, billions and billions of dollars of value from their work. Not just any village idiot can run a company and turn profits like that - very few do.

Most people wouldn't consider the top .01% of the population (which correlates with an IQ of 160) a village idiot. Actually, that's Bill Gates' IQ. And the oft-cited number people put on Einstein's as well.

I do find it interesting though, that after you've called me a fool for speaking on (what you thought was an argument against) the difficulty-- or relative lack thereof-- of Tim's Job, you then dive right into that precise argument. I say many people could do Tim's job, you say it's an irrelevant issue, and then choose to argue it anyway. Again, nice work.

And for the record, Apple really only very recently gained success. And no, it was not all thanks to Stevey. And very little of it had to do with Tim. My guess is you're a bandwagon Mac adopter; post-Intel switch. Welcome aboard, the rest of us have been here for the last 20+ years, through Apple's very rough financial times.


As is well documented in the news today, a lot of CEO's turn huge personal profits like that while lowering the value of the company they run - while at Apple the leaders have turned massive company profits and been rewarded for the work they provide.

Again, none of this has anything to do with ANYTHING I was talking about, nor the points I was making. Either way, CEOs get compensated very, very generously. If Apple were doing poorly, Mr. Cook would still be doing very nicely.

Not just the hours of the day, or the difficulty of the task. It's not something that just anybody can do. Look at all the failing businesses in your community

My community doesn't have any failing businesses. I don't live in Hicksville, IL.

-- No, I haven't read all 6 pages and your other replies, and I'm sure you've addressed what I've said above...

I actually haven't addressed any of what you've said above, because you went completely off-topic.
 
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Those of you outraged over Tim Cook cashing in on $100M Apple stock, I have this to say to all you communists:

(1) The government didn't give Tim Cook those stock options. The board of directors of a private organization, Apple, voted to give Tim Cook those shares and Cook is cashing in.

(2) Who are you to dictate what someone does with what they earned through their hard work?
 
$400 M over ten years... roughly $40 mil per year ... if (under condition) he stays the long haul.

It may sound like alot but consider this:

1) what happens if Apple offered him less, say $25 mil per year in options, and he says, uh, no thanks, I think I'll join Google.

2) let's assume Tim is best person for the job, and they can find someone else that's 90% as good for at a lower cost... what's the implication of that 10% performance decrease on AAPL and overall shareholder value. AAPL is a $300B+ company that is making profit $1B every 10 days (and growing).

They are paying relatively a bit more each year, to ensure that $300B cash cow performs optimally.

.

This is precisely the problem with the world. Everything is about $$$$$$ and nothing else much matters. Pay the CEO something ridiculous that he could never use, nor did he earn...just so he doesn't leave for an even more ridiculous offer elsewhere. I mean people are so hungry for money...where is the passion, the loyalty, the company that is a family to them....you know all the words they use to describe their company but they'll leave for a 5% bump...which means nothing because they can't even come close to using what they currently have.

Capitalism has it's issues. In the end it becomes an unfair system where all the money is up at the top. People who have excess beyond belief and have an sickness to make even more.....meanwhile 95% of the country struggles.

No there is no one that should make this kind of money IMO. Unless Cook can work 100,000 hard and longer and smarter and bring 100,000 times more to the table than "lesser" people, he doesn't deserve it.

Kan-O-Z
 
Can you name a better system? I'm completely against Corpatism but pure capitalism works better than any other system to help the poor and equalize the classes. Apple has benefited millions by creating an industry for developers, retailers, accessory manufacturers, etc. And all of these millions including Apple employees pay their taxes. But I would argue that their efforts have done more for the economy than any taxes that they have paid so that the government can help the poor. We should encourage more Apples to be created and more wealth to be created for everyone. The trick is ensure that it is true capitalism that benefits society and not steals from it like many crony capitalists do.
 
Can you name a better system? I'm completely against Corpatism but pure capitalism works better than any other system to help the poor and equalize the classes. Apple has benefited millions by creating an industry for developers, retailers, accessory manufacturers, etc. And all of these millions including Apple employees pay their taxes. But I would argue that their efforts have done more for the economy than any taxes that they have paid so that the government can help the poor. We should encourage more Apples to be created and more wealth to be created for everyone. The trick is ensure that it is true capitalism that benefits society and not steals from it like many crony capitalists do.

I agree, I don't think any system truly works, because although their models might appear sound in theory, the one factor they do not properly account for is the human tendency to inevitably become greedy. When it comes to capitalism though, I can't think of a better system realistically (reluctantly?) so it is what it is and I have no problems "playing the game" since that's the world we live in. It would be naive however to believe the capitalist system isn't being abused, that corruption doesn't exist and that people suffer as a result - there are examples everywhere as we all know.
 
I still prefer my haircut and be 100$ million poorer than Tim.. by a long shot !
We are pretty back to whose contribution to society is worth more : a 100$ million Tim Cook running Apple, a Physics Noble price or as someone mentioned earlier : Mother Theresa. We will know in a couple hundred years :)
 
really? Can toy mention three persons from all of those millions?

I'm.. what?

yes which is why our collective finances are in great condition and we as a nation are prospering from our fiscal wisdom and we arent experiencing a ballooning deficit with no way out this side of a complete civilizational reboot..... wait.... aww crap.


cheers tim. well done.

You appear to be confusing a great number of things here. The reason our nation (and the entire world, actually, but that's a separate issue) is in such horrible trouble has nothing to do with the inability of the people running the country.

If anything, it's precisely the opposite; they're very good at what they do, but unfortunately their aims and goals are for personal wealth, not the good of the country. Do you honestly think that if policymakers had been attempting to sustain the health of the economy rather than their own pockets we would be in this mess?

What exactly do you think happened with the Banks? They slipped up whilst paying too much attention to the needs of the country? Or they went too far in their exploitation of the American people? The same with real-estate. The same all over.

The country's out of control; everything's now so hemmed up in bureaucracy that our own President can barely do anything to help the problem because the people in political (and fiscal) power have themselves so empowered. They're able to act with complete impunity as they burn one bridge after another, and jump from the burning wreckage of one ship to the next, taking their plunder with them as they go.

And please don't try comparing running a country (not the job of one person, but thousands... plus um, the masses...) to running a corporation.
 
Or let's put it this way.

No one in this world really succeeds based on hard work alone. You also need a lot of luck and the right opportunities (and be at the right place at the right time).

Tim has all these. The other 10,000 Americans purportedly capable of doing his job don't. That's why he is getting $100m, and the rest aren't. Simple as that.

Happy now? :cool:
 
Or let's put it this way.

No one in this world really succeeds based on hard work alone. You also need a lot of luck and the right opportunities (and be at the right place at the right time).

There's much truth to this, although it's not *all* luck; he had to want what he strove for. But it is very true, luck has a lot to do with it.

Tim has all these. The other 10,000 Americans purportedly capable of doing his job don't. That's why he is getting $100m, and the rest aren't. Simple as that.

Well, no... it's not that simple either. Many people who're capable of doing what he does are happily doing other things by their own choice.
 
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