It’s pretty obvious from observing the actions of some members of Congress that they lack any sense of how the government operates, but one of them also seems to have slept through economics class in high school.
While speaking out on the nation’s unemployment crisis on Friday, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) stated that the iPad “was probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs.” How did he come to this earth-shaking conclusion? In reference to the bankruptcy of Borders Books, Jackson said, “Why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes and Noble? Just buy an iPad and download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine.”
The Congressman also found fault with Chicago State University’s plan to replace textbooks with iPads to achieve a “textbookless campus within four years.” What’s his beef with this? “What becomes of publishing companies and publishing company jobs. What becomes of bookstores and librarians and all of the jobs associated with paper? Well, in the not-too-distant future, such jobs simply won’t exist.”
Jackson’s next complaint was that iPads are being produced outside the U.S. “The iPad is produced in China. It’s not produced here in the United States. [...] There is no protection for jobs here in America to ensure that the American people are being put to work.”
OK, there are several fallacies at work here, Congressman. The major one was addressed by Business Insider, which answered Jackson’s theories thusly: “Obviously he ignores all the wealth the iPad has created in America, and the fact that there are all kinds of other jobs that have been created around the iPad [...]”
He also failed to look very deeply into the reasons for Borders’ bankruptcy, like high prices and competition from Amazon. As for those publishing companies, aren’t they keeping pretty busy producing e-books for the Kindle, Nook and iPad?
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