Education

Kids who compete individually put themselves in stronger positions as individuals.

When kids are rewarded for participation rather than achievement, they don't have a strong sense of what they are good at and what they are not.

Capitalism only works when those who make bad decisions are allowed to fail

A combined Citigroup and Bank of America would have had to shed most of Citigroup's 1,000 U.S. branches and its $249.34 billion in consumer deposits, to stay under a regulatory cap that bars any U.S. bank from an acquisition that would give it more than 10% of the nation's total bank deposits.

Together Citigroup and Bank of America, with its $598.21 billion in deposits as of June 30, would have had nearly 13% of the U.S. total. Bank of America alone holds 9%.

Capitalism only works when those who make bad decisions are allowed to fail or to get out of trouble on their own . Socialism doesn't work because it tries to save people from themselves, thus prolonging the effects of bad decisions and encouraging more bad decisions.

Married people with children

Married people with children tend to be both successful and motivated, precisely the people who make economies go.

They are twice as likely to be in the top 20% of income earners, according to the Census, and their incomes have been rising considerably faster than the national average.

How to resolve the subprime mess?

Establishing partnerships with the borrowers is for the lenders the best way to resolve the subprime mess.

It would stop the constant decline of the real estate market and it would keep assets value.

Alternative energy

There's no shortage of new capital pouring into alternative energy projects these days.

Some experts believe that the word alternative means stuff that nobody actually uses.

If that turns out to be true, then alternative energy companies could struggle for market share without government assistance.

The weak dollar and inflation

Why the weak dollar is not the inflation driver it once was?

Because foreign exporters are so keen to keep U.S. market share that when the dollar weakens, they often lower their prices to keep them constant after the currency effect.

That's especially true when the economy is slowing and consumers are less willing to pay higher prices.

U.S. remains a dynamic society

A new study of income mobility by the Treasury Department shows that the U.S. remains a dynamic society marked by rapid and mostly upward income mobility.

Americans on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder continue to climb into the middle and sometimes upper classes in remarkably short periods of time.

The key point is that the study shows that income mobility in the U.S. works down as well as up-another sign that opportunity and merit continue to drive American success, not accidents of birth.

The "rich" are not the same people over time,

As the Treasury data show, we shouldn't worry about inequality.
We should worry about the people who use inequality as a political club to promote policies that reduce opportunity.

Profits and market push innovation

Universal health care would undermine U.S. leadership in medical innovation.

Innovation outside of the private sector doesn't work , it has never worked and will never work .

Health care is about innovation and the U.S.'s world leadership in medical innovation rest in the big amount of money spent on health care in the country.

Profits and market push innovation not boards , government or national foundations.

Successful people

Successful people hook people in the fifteen first seconds.
Successful people have tenacity and self confidence.
Successful people are obsessive.
Successful people show what they are passionate about.
Successful people leave something for people to figure out.

Invisible competition

Competitiveness was always the American mantra, but today we are racing too hard.

Competition was face to face , but today is invisible.

Invisible competition favors people who can see a new future and want to get there first.

The greatest gains are likely to go to people who love the game of competition for its own sake.

It will be not enough.

The three biggest financial groups in the country have agreed on the structure of a $100 billion fund to help thaw portions of the frozen credit markets.

It will be not enough.

The trade gap

The trade gap narrowed 0.6% to $56.45 billion in September amid strong foreign demand and a lower bill for imported oil.

Very exclusive club

Catholic bihhops from cotton-producing West African nations Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mali lobby Congress and White House to cut subsides for U.S. cotton.

Ex-Congressman Vin Weber calls them part of a "very exclusive club...people who visit Washington asking them not to spend money."

Is that a recession?

Dollar is falling . Gold is above $800 an ounce. Oil is pushing toward $100 and stock market is going nowhere.

Is that a recession?

Additional write-downs

Investors think that the largest bank in the U.S. by assets, Citigroup, will need much mor than one year to clean up the mess.

The bank's problems have deepened and it have announced the possibility of additional write-downs.

How big is the mess?

Is it alone?

Skilled immigrants

Senator Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican, slipped an amendment into a spending bill that would tax businesses that hire skilled immigrants an additional $3,500 per visa to a total of $5,000 each.

GDP growth

Gross domestic product, the value of goods and services produced in the country,
expanded by a seasonally adjusted 3.9% annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said.

That bested second-quarter growth of 3.8% and first-quarter growth of 0.6%.
Morgan Stanley economists predict GDP growth of 1.1% in fourth quarter.

They have a great business but difficult to sell.

Why don't successful web sites go public?

Because their success was cultivating third-party software developers and
they have little, if any, control over these third-party platforms.

This creates the risk that,as they become part of the Web site's fabric, the owner of the web site loses the ability to chart its own destiny.

They have a great business but difficult to sell.