Writing on the Wall for Apple?

If you missed it, Apple finally announced what it would be doing with its stockpile of about a $100 Billion in cash on Monday. Apple will be paying its first dividend since 1995 while also buying back stock over the next three years. While I’m sure Apple shareholders will be thrilled at the announcement, there already is chatter going around the tech world that this may be the first signs of a changing Apple in the Post Jobs world.

To put it into perspective, the last time Apple paid a dividend was in 1995, a dark time in the company’s history when Apple was run by Marketers and businessmen who cared more about the bottom line and value to shareholders then they did building great consumer products. We all know how that turned out. Unfortunately Steve Jobs will not be able to return this time to save Apple.

Now I am not saying this is the same Apple as the 90’s. It certainly isn’t. But there is talk  going around the tech world the Job’s would NEVER have done this. He believed in using the company’s change to change the world through new products. Many close to Apple suggested Jobs had mentioned taking a stab at building cars, or appliances in the home. Maybe these were just rumors, but can you think of the possibilities?

What many are concerned about is that Cook and Apple had no clue what to do with the cash. This seemed like the best options as media pressure has increasingly grown on Apple to spend its cash in this gloomy economy. Do you think Jobs would ever care what the media thought? It seems like he would have certainly never have chosen to go down this route.  In fact he was adamantly against it. Many have written that they fear Apple may have lost its vision with Jobs, much the way they lost it the first time he left. People are concerned that the board is now running Apple, and like most boards do, they are trying to make Apple an investor friendly company. It seems odd to take this approach when clearly they cant figure out how to spend the money the have now. I hope this isn’t the first of may signs that Apple has lost its way, but I am very skeptical.

People should pay more if they’re fat

Im sure I am about to get grilled by many people on this one, but I am going to just go ahead and say the insensitive things that need to be said. I read this article on business insider yesterday and came away absolutely disgusted.

There is absolutely no excuse to be obese, and the negative effects you are having on society rival those of secondhand smoking.In fact,I would argue that by being obese you are no different than being a type of pollution. Take this for example:

“Tony Webber, a former chief economist for the Australian airline Qantas, has pointed out that, since 2000, the average weight of adult passengers on its planes has increased by two kilos. For a large, modern aircraft like the Airbus A380, that means that an extra $472 of fuel has to be burned on a flight from Sydney to London. If the airline flies that route in both directions three times a day, over a year it will spend an additional $1 million for fuel, or, on current margins, about 13% of the airline’s profit from operating that route. “

First, you are making everyone’s airline travel more expensive, which is already annoying enough. But then consider this:

As the weight of planes continues to increase with the extra weight of humans fat, we are using more jet fuel than ever before and that in turn is putting more pollution out there  across the rest of the world. And, dont you think its annoying that somebody who only weighs 160 pound like me get charged an extra $60 id my bag weighs 51 pounds and that an obese person who weighs 450 pounds and has a 48 pound bag pays NOTHING. And God help whoever has to sit next to them on the flight!

Yet the airline industry only provides a small microcosm of the damage obesity is having on our society.

“Last year, the Society of Actuaries estimated that in the United States and Canada, overweight or obese people accounted for $127 billion in additional health-care expenditure. That adds hundreds of dollars to annual health-care costs for taxpayers and those who pay for private health insurance. The same study indicated that the costs of lost productivity, both among those still working and among those unable to work at all because of obesity, totaled $115 billion. “

This is what I find the most appalling. The fact that my insurance is going up because of people who are refusing to change their lifestyle is ridiculous. And the fact that they receive health care potentially over somebody who is truly sick from something such as cancer ( maybe from the jet fuel pollution) is disgusting.

For these reasons I think people should pay more for insurance, pay more for flying, and etc. People will never change their habits until they have to, and hitting them financially is a great way to start.We should also tax the crap out of fast food just like we have for alcohol and cigarettes. Is it really any different? Its too damaging on the others in society to not do anything about it. Obesity is second only to tobacco use as the leading cause of preventable death. This is something people shoudl care about more.

Now I know there are certain people who are more prone to being obese than others. I get that. But, I think that with the information that is available to us today on the internet about getting a healthy diet and exercise there is no reason people should get that out of control. It is largely the decisions people make on a daily basis about what they eat and do. I dont care if that is the lifestyle you want to live. Thats fine. But when it starts to effect others around you, just like smoking, it is time to draw the line.