The profit motive, indecorous though it may seem, may represent the best chance the poor have to reap some of globalization's benefits.

Although oil is a commodity, it's still not a commodity like coffee, which, thank God, we will have with us always. At some point the oil will run out.

When Americans are asked to rank professions in terms of honesty and ethics, insurance agents routinely end up near the bottom of the list - somewhere between politicians and car salesmen. Generally, insurers are seen as clever hucksters who prey on insecurity and ignorance to sell people what they don't need at prices they shouldn't have to pay.

The U.S. is excellent at importing cheap products from the rest of the world. Let's try importing some human capital instead.

Most corporate name changes are the result of mergers and acquisitions. But these tend to be unimaginative.

One key to successful group decisions is getting people to pay much less attention to what everyone else is saying.

Meeting external deadlines is much harder than meeting internal ones. On the other hand, internal deadlines sometimes don't feel real, and are therefore easy to evade.