Besides great climates and lovely beaches, California and Greece share a fondness for dysfunctional politics and feckless budgeting.

The typical American corporation is a shareholders' republic the same way that China is a peoples' republic.

Of course, looking tough on inflation is part of any central banker's job description: if investors believe that inflation is going to get out of control, you end up with higher interest rates and capital flight, and a vicious circle quickly ensues.

Breaking tasks down into smaller sub-tasks can be very useful.

The challenge for capitalism is that the things that breed trust also breed the environment for fraud.

Now, modern economies have a very effective mechanism for deciding if salaries are really too high: it's called the free market. That's how most people's salaries are set, after all, including those of major-league baseball players and European soccer players.

There does seem to be some evidence that as people get older, they procrastinate less, perhaps because they feel the pressure of time more.