The New Republic

Steve Jobs was the greatest manufacturer of consumer products of his age. His marketing vision put him on par with Henry Ford, and his grasp of the aesthetic component to industrial design far surpassed Ford’s. But Jobs differed from Ford in one significant way. His surname to the contrary, he did not create a lot of American jobs.I raise this point not to single out Jobs, whose tendency to “offshore” manufacturing jobs followed economic imperatives not of his making. He did what his contemporaries in America’s younger and more flexible manufacturing companies did. Rather, my purpose is to illustrate the perplexing failure even of one of America’s most stunningly successful companies to provide domestic employment on anything like the scale that America was once able to take for granted. READ MORE >>

While he may have paled in comparison to Steve Jobs in a black turtleneck, Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook still impressed audiences today when he unveiled the new iPhone 4S. Apple fans and the technology media predictably freaked out. READ MORE >>

This article is a contribution to 'Is There Anything That Can Be Done? A TNR Symposium On The Economy'. Click here to read other contributions to the series. READ MORE >>

with Louis Liss When it comes to design, there’s no question that Apple knows how to impress. READ MORE >>

This morning, Microsoft announced it is purchasing Internet phone company Skype for $8.5 billion. Market analysts interpreted the technology giant's latest acquisition as an attempt to compete in the communications market with Google, Apple, and other rivals who have made big strides into the internet telephony market. READ MORE >>

The revision downward in fourth quarter GDP from 3.2 percent to 2.8 percent last week and continuing high unemployment just reinforces the underlying reason for this lackluster recovery: the 35 percent of the economy’s assets comprised of the built environment (real estate and the infrastructure that supports real estate) is M.I.A. READ MORE >>

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Consternation over the loss of manufacturing jobs to China was aroused again recently when Evergreen Solar announced that it would move 800 manufacturing jobs from a decommissioned Devens, Mass. military base to China. READ MORE >>

Conventional wisdom holds that global warming is a losing issue for political candidates. But that's certainly not the case in California, where Republicans are actually getting into trouble for opposing the state's climate law: READ MORE >>

There's an old line, "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." Why do I mention it right now? Oh, no reason: READ MORE >>