The Golden Report

FRIDAY’S EARLY EDITION

TOP STORY: President Obama announced this afternoon that the roughly 43,000 remaining US troops in Iraq will be returning to the United States by the end of the year, after an agreement with the Iraqi government to grant immunity protection to US soldiers failed to be reached. 

“The rest of our troops in Iraq will come home at the end of the year. After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over,” the President said in an statement from the Brady Briefing Room at The White House earlier this afternoon. President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki spoke by phone earlier today. 

Here’s how the Washington Post reports on the significant development today, “The failure to reach an agreement could pose security problems for the Iraqi government, still largely divided by sect and ethnicity, and for an Obama administration that inherited the war but has pledged an orderly withdrawal. If sectarian strife or other violence should break out in Iraq once U.S. forces have left, Obama could be blamed, particularly by his conservative critics, for abandoning Iraq after nearly nine years of war before it was ready to protect itself. But the result also allows for a more definitive conclusion to the divisive U.S. military operation in Iraq, which has cost nearly $1 trillion and more than 4,400 American lives.”

President Obama opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, a point of separation that his Democratic primary campaign against New York Senator Hillary Clinton seized upon. After taking office, the President announced, in February 2009, a drawdown of US forces that would conform with the agreement reached between Former President George W. Bush and Prime Minister al-Maliki late in Bush’s term. 

On August 31, 2010, President Obama addressed the nation from the Oval Office, announcing that all US combat troops had left Iraq and only a provisional force of about 50,000 soldiers remained. The name of the military effort was offiicially changed from “Operation Iraqi Freedom” to “Operation New Dawn.” At present, about 10,000 of those troops have been withdrawn.

More than 4,400 Americans have been killed since the war in Iraq began in 2003 and the 8 1/2 year war is estimated to have cost US taxpayers over $1 trillion. 

MORE ON STEVE JOBS- from the Walter Isaacson biography, which will be published on Monday. As first reported by the Huffington Post last night, Jobs reported told President Obama at their first meeting in October 2010 that he believed that he would be a one-term president. The book is an extraordinary look inside the life of a deeply private man, who was awed in life and revered in the days since his death.

“Jobs, who was known for his prickly, stubborn personality, almost missed meeting President Obama in the fall of 2010 because he insisted that the president personally ask him for a meeting. Though his wife told him that Obama “was really psyched to meet with you,” Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days. When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative.

“You’re headed for a one-term presidency,” he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where “regulations and unnecessary costs” make it difficult for them.”

AND... the article describes Jobs’ obsessiveness with small details, including how he made an issue of a planned dessert on the menu when Obama met with technology leaders in Silicon Valley. 

“In preparation for the dinner, Jobs exhibited his notorious attention to detail, telling venture capitalist John Doerr that the menu of shrimp, cod and lentil salad was “far too fancy” and objecting to a chocolate truffle dessert. But he was overruled by the White House, which cited the president’s fondness for cream pie.”

WALL STREET was heading higher at the end of the trading day, with the DOW up almost 200 points amid optimism that a potential Eurozone deal could be reached in time for Sunday’s planned summit, and be passed at a second summit by Wednesday of next week. The $8 billion deal that is being discussed must still be approved by the International Monetary Fund, and- if all succeeds- would reach the bankrupt nation of Greece by mid-November, the BBC reports today. No doubt the outcome of Sunday’s critical meeting will set the stage for the next trading week, with a deal potentially bringing some stability to uncertain markets. 

GROUPON is preparing for a scaled-back IPO, and is expected to raise about $540 million, less than previously expected, when the company goes public next month. From Reuters, “The fact that Groupon has changed its accounting twice under pressure from regulators, and lost two chief operating officers this year, also has not instilled confidence…Groupon is one of the most closely watched IPOs this year, as turmoil in the financial markets disrupted many share offering plans and cut the value of the few that did get done. If Groupon succeeds, it will bode well for other companies also considering going public, including social gaming company Zynga and social network Facebook.”

2012:

THE LATEST POLLS

RASMUSSEN/IOWA: Cain 28%, Romney 21%, Paul 10%, Gingrich 9%, Bachmann 8%, Perry 7%, Santorum 4%, Huntsman 2%

GALLUP PRESIDENTIAL JOB APPROVAL: Approve 42%, Disapprove 50%

RASMUSSEN PRESIDENTIAL JOB APPROVAL: Approve 44%, Disapprove 55%

The big 2012 news today comes from WMUR in New Hampshire, who reported early this afternoon that the entire campaign staff of Rep. Michele Bachmann in the first primary state had quit. 

HERE’S A QUOTE that you don’t want to hear if you are a Republican running for president (via Reuters): “It certainly underscores the impression that New Hampshire isn’t a priority for her [Bachmann]. She’s totally written us off,” said former Republican state legislator Fran Wendelboe.

FINALLY...The Senate last night approved John Bryson to be President Obama’s second Secretary of Commerce. After a 74-26 confirmation vote, that was delayed for nearly five months because of Republican opposition, Bryson was formally sworn in today. He becomes the nation’s 37th Secretary of Commerce, succeeding former Washington Governor Gary Locke, who President Obama appointed this spring as his second Ambassador to China (replacing former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, who is now seeking the Republican Presidential Nomination). 

Bryson is the former Chairman, CEO and President of the electric company Edison International. He graduated from Stanford University in 1965 and from Yale Law School in 1969. Bryson was also a Director at Boeing and Walt Disney and a Trustee at Stanford and the California Institute of Technology. 

JUST OUT- and highlighted on Drudge, so sure to lead the news cycle tomorrow- ABC News reports that an electric car company that received a government loan guarantee, and promoted by the Obama Administration- has begun production of the car in Finland because they could not find a suitable production facility in the United States. 

“Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department’s $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland. “There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle,” the car company’s founder and namesake told ABC News. “They don’t exist here.”

Much like the Solyndra controversy in recent weeks, where a similar loan guarantee program for the solar energy industry has come into question, watch for this story to drive (no pun intended) conservative attacks on the Obama Administration and, in particular, Energy Secretary Steven Chu (a former nobel prize winning professor). 

TOP STORY- The Death of Col. Muammar el-Qaddaffi- the longtime leader of the African nation of Libya- was killed earlier today, bringing to an end a campaign by rebel forces that toppled his government and seized his country. After uprisings that began in February, NATO- with the backing of the United States- began a coordinated international effort that gave support to the rebels, propelling them to the Libyan capital of Tripoli in August. Since then, the whereabouts of Qaddaffi have been a mystery, but he was always thought to have retreated to his hometown of Sirte, one of the last strongholds not in rebel hands. In recent days, a fierce battle for Sirte broke out and, today, rebel forces succeeded in taking control of the town. The circumstances of Qaddaffi’s exact cause of death have been the subject of speculation and false rumors all day. Reuters, which first reported his capture and then death, has broadcast a video which shows a bloody and mutilated Qaddaffi, severely wounded, in the midst of heavy fighting. 

PRESIDENT OBAMA went to the Rose Garden at 2pm today to deliver a brief statement on Qaddaffi’s death, saying, in part, “Today, we can definitively say that the Qaddafi regime has come to an end. The last major regime strongholds have fallen. The new government is consolidating the control over the country. And one of the world’s longest-serving dictators is no more.One year ago, the notion of a free Libya seemed impossible. But then the Libyan people rose up and demanded their rights. And when Qaddafi and his forces started going city to city, town by town, to brutalize men, women and children, the world refused to stand idly by.”

The President also made reference to the unpopular decision- criticized this spring- to involve the United States in the Libyan conflict, “Without putting a single U.S. service member on the ground, we achieved our objectives, and our NATO mission will soon come to an end,” he said. 

ARAB AWAKENING: Uprisings that began in Tunisia late last year have now spread throughout the broader Middle East and North Africa and dramatically changed the framework of the region, upsetting decades old geo-political relationships in the process, over the last 10 months. Three leaders have been forced from power:

TUNISIA- President Ben Ali was ousted in January and fled to Saudi Arabia, seeking exile, on January 14th

EGYPT- Hosni Mubarak resigned as President on February 11th and now faces criminal prosecution for war crimes in Egypt

LIBYA- The government of President Muammar al-Qaddafi was overthrown on August 23rd and Qaddafi was killed earlier today

Leaders of other Arab nations have announced that they will not seek re-election, but would stay in office in the interim. Protests continue in the nations of SYRIA, BAHRAIN and YEMEN. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Pakistan today. She was sitting for interviews with a series of reporters when an aide showed her the news- at that time unconfirmed reports of Qaddafi’s capture- on a Blckberry. Her reaction was caught on camera, “Wow,” she said. 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRRVzVE4v3A&feature=player_embedded

EUROPE: French and German leaders have delayed a decision on a Eurozone financial rescue package. A Summit planned for this weekend will go forward, but a second Summit will likely be held early next week where an agreement is expected to be announced. “The last-minute delay reinforced fears that European leaders are still far from containing a crisis that has become a threat to the world economy,” the New York Times reports tonight.

WALL STREET: The news from Europe resulted in a mixed day on Wall Street

DOW up 37
NASDAQ down 5
S&P 500 up 6

TOMORROW: President Obama will formally sign three free trade agreements passed by Congress last week, with South Korea, Panama and Colombia

FINALLY- Walter Isaacson, the official biographer of Steve Jobs, will release an updated biography of the Apple co-founder who died earlier this month on Monday. Today, it was reported that Jobs put off treatment for his pancreatic cancer for several months following initial diagnosis, opting instead for a series of remedies and home-based treatments. The details that Isaacson reports in the book (he will also appear in a 60 Minutes interview Sunday night) are fascinating.

“When he did take the path of surgery and science, Mr. Jobs did so with passion and curiosity, sparing no expense, pushing the frontiers of new treatments. According to Mr. Isaacson, once Mr. Jobs decided on the surgery and medical science, he became an expert — studying, guiding and deciding on each treatment. Mr. Isaacson said Mr. Jobs made the final decision on each new treatment regimen.

The DNA sequencing that Mr. Jobs ultimately went through was done by a collaboration of teams at Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and the Broad Institute of MIT. The sequencing, Mr. Isaacson writes, allowed doctors to tailor drugs and target them to the defective molecular pathways.”

A doctor told Mr. Jobs that the pioneering treatments of the kind he was undergoing would soon make most types of cancer a manageable chronic disease. Later, Mr. Jobs told Mr. Isaacson that he was either 

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg issued the following statement on the death of Apple co-founder and Former CEO Steve Jobs:

“Tonight, America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein, and whose ideas will shape the world for generations to come. Again and again over the last four decades, Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life long before most people could even see the horizon. And Steve’s passionate belief in the power of technology to transform the way we live brought us more than smart phones and iPads: it brought knowledge and power that is reshaping the face of civilization. In New York City’s government, everyone from street construction inspectors to NYPD detectives have harnessed Apple’s products to do their jobs more efficiently and intuitively. Tonight our City – a city that has always had such respect and admiration for creative genius – joins with people around the planet in remembering a great man and keeping Laurene and the rest of the Jobs family in our thoughts and prayers.”

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

____________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2011

Statement by the President on the Passing of Steve Jobs

Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.  By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.  Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.

###

SPECIAL EDITION: THE DEATH OF STEVEN P. JOBS

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, Inc., died today at the age of 56. 

Jobs was born February 24, 1955 in San Francisco and adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California. He graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California in 1972 and attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but dropped out after one semester. Jobs co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Eight years later, he led the team that founded the Macintosh Computer. All told, Jobs’ name is attached to 338 United States patents or pending patent applications. 

In 1982, Time Magazine named the Computer as the “Machine of the Year” and, in a profile of Jobs, called him “the most famous maestro of the micro.” During a 12-year gap from working at Apple in the late 1980s and 1990s, Jobs started a company called NeXT and another animation company called Pixar and later partnered with Disney to create the iconic movie “Toy Story” which Jobs worked on for over half a decade. Jobs returned to Apple, which purchased NeXT, and became Chief Executive Officer- a position he held until his resignation in August of this year. In 2006, Disney purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion and Jobs became one of the largest shareholders of the Walt Disney Corporation- holding approximately 7% of the company’s stock. Until his death, Jobs remained Chairman of the Apple Board of Directors. Jobs had battled pancreatic cancer since 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009. 

New York Times Obituary: “Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped usher in the era of personal computers and then did nothing less than lead a cultural transformation in the way music, movies and mobile communications were experienced in the digital age, died Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif.. He was 56.” 

New York Times Graphics- Steve Jobs’ Patents

Wall Street Journal Obituary: “Steven P. Jobs, the Apple Inc. chairman and co-founder who pioneered the personal computer industry and changed the way people think about technology, died Wednesday at the age of 56.

Statement from Bill Gates: “I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work. Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives. The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely”
Statement from Michael Bloomberg: “Tonight, America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein, and whose ideas will shape the world for generations to come. Again and again over the last four decades, Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life long before most people could even see the horizon. And Steve’s passionate belief in the power of technology to transform the way we live brought us more than smart phones and iPads: it brought knowledge and power that is reshaping the face of civilization.”

White House Statement of the President, in part: 

“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.  By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.  Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.   

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him”

APPLE.COM’s homepage is a picture of Steve Jobs and, in boldface type on the left hand side, simply, “Steve Jobs: 1955-2011”. It links to apple.com/stevejobs, which reads “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.” 

“If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com”

APPLE STOCK (AAPL) closed today up 5.75 points (1.54%) to $378.25 on the NASDAQ. Jobs held 5.426 million shares of Apple. 

In 2010, FORBES MAGAZINE estimated Jobs’ net worth at $8.3 billion, making him the 42nd wealthiest American. Jobs did not engage in public philanthropy, at least in the traditional sense, in his life. Although several large gifts are rumored to have come anonymously from Jobs he did not, for example, establish a personal foundation, focus on specific initiatives, or join public initiatives such as The Giving Pledge.

In June 2005, Jobs delivered the commencement address at STANFORD UNIVERSITY. The YouTube clip of the 15-minute speech has been watched over 6 million times. In the speech, Jobs talked publicly about his health condition for the first time, saying,

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Full Transcript
YouTube

THE OTHER TOP STORY:

Former Alaska Governor and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin announced tonight that she will not seek the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination, putting to rest persistent speculation since 2009 that she would return to public life after resigning as Alaska’s Governor and mount a bid for The White House. The announcement came on the Mark Levin Show this evening and in a statement released afterwards, Palin said, “As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.”
Republicans who were seriously considering a presidential bid this cycle but declined: Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Former South Dakota Senator John Thune, Former New York Governor George Pataki, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Former Arkansas Governor Mike  Huckabee, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and billionaire Donald Trump

With Palin’s announcement today- and Christie’s yesterday- the Republican field is now set, with 89 days before the Iowa Caucuses.

WALL STREET TODAY:

• DOW up 131
• NASDAQ up 55
• S&P 500 up 20