Why We Won't See An ibox

1) Why do people love the company called Apple so much? One reason is that they see hope in the way that Apple innovates so consistently and in how the company always seems to simplify what others have made to look so complicated.

The music industry was an inbred, greedy, self-satisfied, bloated mush ten years ago. They were systemically unable to innovate beyond studio technology and their contract artist's own creativity. So, Apple created itunes and the ipod and drove a stake in their hearts.

The cellular phone industry, dominated by a few major phone "service" companies and a handful of phone manufacturers were also incapable of true innovation, with the exception of BlackBerry. Apple changed the whole scene with the iphone and the app store.

The computer industry, where Apple itself competed as David to the PC Goliaths? Complacent and still dominated by The Big Box, Microsoft. Then Apple introduced ipad. Many laughed. This week, Apple announced that the ipad is now a $6Billion business on its own, twice the size of Dell's consumer PC business, according to he Times. Apple sells every ipad it makes.


I'll bet that not a single person at Apple, certainly not Steve Jobs, ever utters the expression "think outside the box." And I'll bet that those music, phone and computer companies used that expression all the time and still do.

People and institutions that truly think outside some box do not know that they are doing so. It would never occur to a truly innovative person or company to ask others to think outside the box for the simple reason that they do not live inside any box.

2) Apple, Facebook, and Google all have one thing in common. Innovation? Maybe, but the really remarkable thing about these companies is that they show a marked disdain for Wall St. They see Wall St. as a necessary evil, but have no respect for it whatsoever.

Apple continues to give conservative earning's estimates and couldn't care less about analysts' reports. Facebook will finally go public next year, because it must, due to SEC (completely funded by Wall St. fees) rules surrounding private stock ownership. All of these institutions have an inherent mistrust of Wall St. and see bankers and their lawyers as late-coming opportunists, who structure deals to enrich themselves and perhaps a very small set of clients.

Take the recent LinkedIn IPO for example. LinkedIn's valuation has soared to about $10Billion. A day after the IPO, it was valued at $8.9Billion, making millionaires of bankers, lawyers, and employees; while making at least one billionaire.

LinkedIn. Apple, Facebook, and Google are probably shaking their heads asking: But, what does LinkedIn do?

LinkedIn's users are its only real assets. They ( Disclosure: I am one) create networks of contacts. LinkedIn provides the platform, of course, but by itself that is not valuable. Users pay no fees. The captive audience of users with their detailed professional and personal information is potentially valuable.

So, based on that value, how much did each LinkedIn user receive from the IPO? After all, by some measure, they built the company. Answer: zero. Not a dime.

Facebook, in particular, should consider that little information bite. Right, friends?

3) There has been some mention in Washington recently about "thinking outside the box" regarding deficit reduction, taxes, and reigning-in entitlements. Wash DC is the boxiest box of them all.

I cannot help thinking about what Steve Jobs and his crew would do with this stuff, if we gave them a chance. Shall we take a shot at that?

I came, I saw, itax

a) Create a Flat Income Tax with 2-3 flat rates, based on income levels and allow absolutely no deductions. None at all. Income tax becomes like jury duty in New York; just do it. Everyone pays. Period. Personal and Corporate.

b) Create a National Sales Tax. Not a VAT, just a simple sales tax. Yes, on internet sales too. Congress does not manage or spend the proceeds from this tax. Congress, by law, cannot remotely touch the proceeds of this tax and cannot change the rate at whim or exempt themselves from paying it with a special Get Out Of The Tax Card. The tax may be directed by its Trustees towards a specific area, deficit reduction for example, or education. Everyone pays: citizens, non-citizens, visitors, illegals, children, extra-terrestials. Even UN diplomats pay, no exemptions.

Simple, elegant, effectual. itax. A start anyway, even if it is just an idream. Dream of new taxes? Not new, not necessarily higher, just different.