Bnet has a very interesting story about 10 careers which pay well, but which do NOT benefit society. I agree with most of them, with cavets like the author includes – Chriropractors do give some benefit, some self help books are ok, some health experts can help you, etc. I have a dream that someday #9 will not be true, but I believe it may always be. http://team-swap.com/?p=420

Several months ago I found a interesting story at CNN.com about how an American inventor of solor powered bulbs was attempting to both help build third world economies, via building village based businesses, and also change how social aid is handled / viewed world wide. Full post here.

The two most interesting quotes in this story follow –

First, Katsaros had to answer a key question that would determine how he would have the strongest impact: should his company be nonprofit, or for-profit?

Katsaros found inspiration from the 2008 book by Paul Polak, “Out of Poverty.”

Polak, who has worked in developing nations for 30 years, believes that the charity model of aid used by nonprofit organizations doesn’t work — despite its good intentions.

The best way to help people, according to Polak, is to treat them as consumers. If you can sell to them, he says, you can help them.

“In the beginning I was a nut case and nobody paid attention,” Polak says. “The consensus was 30 years ago that this is what caused poverty, and to be involved in business was outrageous and evil.”

Today, that is starting to change, he says. But that doesn’t mean that nongovernmental organizations have rolled out the red carpet for Polak’s ideas.

“Many NGOs say it’s making money on the back of the poor, but I love to make money on the back of the poor,” Polak says.

“You can feel really good about yourself giving stuff away … but if you are going to sell things to people, you need to have respect for them because no one is going to buy something if you have contempt for them.”

“If you have a village that’s used to the dole, it’s very hard to get them off of the dole,” Polak says. “We have to face the fact that conventional development aid has failed.

“It just doesn’t work.”

The New York Times has a interesting piece up today (link here) about how some college dropouts go on to make millions and billons (at times). One of the most interesting points the story makes is that the often quoted about 80% of the jobs created are in small business, actually the vast majority of jobs are created by START UP businesses, not small businesses. This point leads back to the idea that traditional American schooling actually is based on removing some of the key skills required to start a start up business – risk taking, failure, creativity, actual sales, and networking skills.

I agree with those ideas to a point, but I would add that the key point to success is drive (which can be found in college dropouts, college graduates, blue collar workers, illegal aliens, and drug dealers) and if someone has drive and a idea they will succeed.

The point of the article, that we need to develop better entrepreneurs and not stifle so much within the nature of people via standardized education (a point that I only partially agree with), is well taken, but I am concerned that too many people who lack drive will read it and decide that they can be the next Jobs, Gates, and Zuckerburg (all people who were smart enough to go to and succeed at college mind you).

Porsche has a new hybird sports car, the Spyder 918, coming out (story here) . The car gets 78mpg and cost $845,000. Even with gas at $4 a gallon that is a a long payback over cars like Prius’s, Leaf’s, Volt’s, and heck even a Hummer H2 may never cost you $800,000 (assuming you pay $45K (Kelly Blue Book with low mileage) for the a 2008 H2). Makes the 10K Camry getting 30mpg look STRONG!!! LOL

Someone sent this to me and I wanted to share it. Very insightful and very true.

Why did Bernie Madoff go to prison? To make it simple, he talked people into investing with him. Trouble was, he didn’t invest their money. As time rolled on, he simply took the money from the new investors to pay off the old investors.

Finally, there were too many old investors and not enough money from new investors coming in to keep the payments going. Next thing you know, Madoff is one of the most hated men in America and he is off to jail.

Too few people realize this, but Madoff did to his investors what the government has been doing to us with Social Security. There is no meaningful difference between the two schemes. . . except that one was operated by a private individual who is now in jail, and the other is operated by politicians who enjoy perks, privileges and status in spite of their actions.

Do we need a side-by-side comparison here? Well here’s a nifty little chart.

A friend of mine in the car parts business years ago told me never buy a car named after what you do once your buy it – i.e. SAAB. Today the news broke that GM’s deal to sell SAAB to Spyker feel through and the Swedish automaker will close. (Full story here).

Personally I have known a few people who owned SAAB’s, none complained too much but none raved about them either. To me they always seemed like the Plymouth of the European car set – reliable but never overly respected. Nice but not so nice that people viewed them as a true luxury brand.

I do hate to see the brand end though as I like competition in all forms, all markets, and all areas. Basically, I don’t like to see options decrease for consumers or people loses their jobs in a tough economy, but tough times do weed out weaker players. SAAB never fit GM (or GM never fit SAAB depending on your view), and unfortunately GM’s tough times and a declining market place lead to SAAB’s demise.

CNN is rolling out a new Iphone app for $1.99. That is a fair price, but if their competition Fox, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, etc do not charge for their apps then I am not sure that they will get as many downloads as they expect – even at $1.99. It may be a new revenue stream, but I am not sure it will be a substantial one. Of course for me it is irrelevant as I have a Windows Mobile Smartphone. Full story at Telephony Online.