Tim Cook says Apple bears a “moral responsibility” to help grow the U.S. economy. And he harbors no current plans to run for president of the United States.
Those are two takeaways from an interview Cook gave to The New York Times as part of his trip to Austin, Texas, where he laid out plans to expand Apple’s Swift curriculum to new community colleges.
During the short interview, Cook said, “I think we have a moral responsibility to help grow the economy, to help grow jobs, to contribute to this country and to contribute to the other countries that we do business in.”
He added that, “I think there’s still probably a more significant group that feels my sole responsibility is to Wall Street.”
A force for good in the world
Neither of these are a big surprise for anyone who has followed Cook’s career. For many years now, he has been arguing that Apple should use its size and power to be a “force for good” in the world. He also has blasted investors who are too focused on ROI (return on investment), without considering greater social issues. In addition, Apple recently launched a $1 billion fund to help grow U.S. manufacturing.
In addition, Cook spoke about government in his New York Times interview. “The reality is that government, for a long period of time, has for whatever set of reasons become less functional and isn’t working at the speed that it once was,” he noted. “And so it does fall, I think, not just on business but on all other areas of society to step up.”
Despite this, he said that he wouldn’t be making overtures at a later political career, as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has done:
“I have a full-time job,” Mr. Cook said. “I appreciate the compliment,” he added with a wry look, “if it is a compliment.”
Finally, Cook took the opportunity to point out that Apple is running on 100 percent renewable energy in the United States, and says that the same is true for the company’s operations in 23 other countries around the world.
