Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle.

Of course, presidents are always blamed or rewarded for the state of the economy.

I do think to some extent multitasking is a way of fooling ourselves that we're being exceptionally efficient.

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

Instead of mindlessly tossing billions at or taking billions from the Net as such, investors should be spending their time making sure that it's the future Fords and General Motors of cyberspace that are getting the capital they need.

Procrastination also can be a way of self-handicapping: if you don't do a great job, you can always say to yourself, "If I'd only started sooner, I'd have been able to produce something excellent."

In order to work well, markets need a basic level of trust.