Big Oil or Big Energy?

With the price is gasoline hitting record highs, how long do you think it will be until the United States seeks alternate sources of energy in earnest? How long do you think it will be until we achieve energy independence? Which companies / company will lead the way? To what extent do you think we will be dependent on foreign oil (e.g. 10 years, 20 years, indefinitely)?

Top Executive Pay

Recently, a newspaper article in the Washington Post or USA Today (we can't recall) stated that top executive pay was now something like over 400 times greater than the average pay in their companies as opposed to something like 23 times greater in the early 80s. Do you think executives should be payed as much as they can earn by performance or do you think there should be a cap to how much they can make? If so, who should set the cap, the shareholders, the company, or the federal government?

The 2002 Tax Cuts

Several years ago there was a push to make the 2002 tax cuts permanent. Already, the capital gains tax rate was cut to 15% for most taxpayers. Also, federal income taxes were cut significantly during this time period. Since then, the economy seems to have grown at a steady pace, only sliding towards (seeming) recession recently and although Wall Street currently has jitters in the mortgage market many areas of the country still enjoy steady job growth and low unemployment. What do you think is attributable to these signs of economic good health? Do you think it is the tax cuts or something else unforeseen? Why or why not?

Welcome

Welcome to "The Money Minute Weekly," home of in-depth business analysis, markets, firms, and movers. Here, readers will find pertinent business content on a wide array of topics. As always, enjoy your visit and feel free to comment on our posts.