Apple and Google embody two alternative models of capitalism
There is so much wrong with this article I hardly know where to begin.<p>First, it presumes a 19th-century separation of &quot;capital&quot; and &quot;labor&quot; where &quot;capital&quot; is a bunch of greedy pigs trying their damndest to exploit labor, with little crossover between the two groups. The modern reality is way more complicated. Almost every member of &quot;labor&quot; has some form of pension, 401(k), IRA, or personal stock holding, and even if they don&#x27;t, their governments do. Huge pension funds like CalPERS are heavily invested in the stock market, which matters because (a) many state employees rely on them for income, and even if you don&#x27;t work for the state, (b) your taxes are directly tied to the investment performance of these funds. Bottom line, it&#x27;s complete folly to suggest the stock market is a &quot;rich person&#x27;s problem&quot; even if you&#x27;re poor. Anyone invested in the S&amp;P 500 is going to have a large position (relatively) in Apple.<p>Second, this article makes no mention of Google&#x27;s hiring of Ruth Porat or the recent moves to put better capital allocation processes in place. I, for one, wish Google would behave more like Apple. I think it shows admirable restraint that Apple can pay so much cash out without wasting it on dumb things.<p>Third, it&#x27;s just a sloppy article in general. They make no mention of whether the &quot;performance&quot; of the two includes the cash thrown off by dividends, which in Apple&#x27;s case, is significant. They also didn&#x27;t mention the complex back-story of why the Irish subsidiary is used [1], nor any of the academic finance research suggesting that &quot;Short-term&quot; decision making actually benefits investors long-term.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stratechery.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;apples-eu-tax-problem-how-apple-pays-taxeseventually-everyone-is-a-loser&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;stratechery.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;apples-eu-tax-problem-how-apple...</a>