A Trillion
What does a trillion look like?
Do you think the founders; Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne ever thought that the company they started in order to sell Wozniak’s invention, the personal computer, would ever be valued at a Trillion Dollars? It broke through that barrier just yesterday, August 1, 2018.
How did this startup transform the Apple I, which had to be assembled by the customer, into a world-class innovator with a history for changing the way we play, work, listen, take time and communicate. And not just with hardware and software but the 
spawning of independent apps, social media, and what-not?
Vision hard work, dedication, and an environment where ideas flourish are usually associated with innovation, with Apple. Also critical for innovation to take hold, research shows, is an economic system which provides the freedom for the best ideas to attract capital, flourish and reap the rewards bestowed on the company by its customers.
Economic freedom is often equated with capitalism, the rule of law, government size and regulation: green is good, dark green is terrific. The US ranks 18th in the world but is improving significantly. The following quote is from the The Heritage Foundation’s research: “…the increase in its overall score would seem to indicate that the decade-long decline in America’s economic freedom may have been arrested. there are signs of renewed labor market dynamism and increased growth, and major regulatory and tax reforms are spurring business confidence and investment…”
Economic freedom and capitalism are often criticized as concentrating riches to the upper percentile: it’s as if the benefactor of their efforts do not deserve it and the fact that they have it somehow diminishes them. The facts say otherwise.
On the chart below; take a look at the Percentage of Global Population in Poverty. Amazing isn’t it, that as one company, reaches an unprecedented historical valuation, the first of its kind, we also experience the lowest level of poverty in the world.
Other companies, we believe, are on Apple’s heels and they too will most likely break through the trillion dollar valuation barrier.
We continue to believe, as our previous missives in these pages have pointed out, that America is on the cusp of a renewed industrial revolution
Apple is the first, many more trillions to come….
Our portfolios favor Domestic and Foreign Equities
Carlos Dominguez – Portfolio Manager, RJ
Sources:
Fabius Maximus Website https://fabiusmaximus.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
https://www.heritage.org/index/heatmap
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