14 DAY TRIAL // During a speech this Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama touted Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, as an example of the "American dream," noting that Jobs’ product success should earn him the right to be “rich”.
In response to a reporter's question, Obama made the following comments (via CNet)
"What is...a fact is that people in the top 1 percent, people in the top one-tenth of 1 percent, or one-hundredth of 1 percent have a larger share of income and wealth than any time since the 1920s," said Obama.
"Those are just facts. That's not a feeling on the part of Democrats. Those are facts."
The President added, "And something that's always been the greatest strength of America is a thriving, booming middle class, where everybody has got a shot at the American dream. And that should be our goal.”
“That should be what we're focused on. How are we creating opportunity for everybody? So that we celebrate wealth. We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products. We expect that person to be rich, and that's a good thing. We want that incentive. That's part of the free market."
Obama is known to have had a private meeting with Apple’s CEO recently, to discuss technology, education, and job creation, according to a report by MercuryNews.
The paper reported in October that Barack Obama met with Apple CEO Steve Jobs to have a 45-minute private conversation, as he was heading to a fund-raising dinner at the Palo Alto home of Google executive Marissa Mayer.
Obama and Jobs had previously met back in 2008 on the campaign trail.
The US President can’t seem to get away from Apple products either. Not once, but twice was Obama handed an iPad to give digital autographs.