The dramatic increase in gasoline prices over the summer combined with the perception that oil revenues fund terrorism has created a new perception on the need for the U.S. to import oil. It is now becoming clear to a growing number of Americans that dependency on foreign oil compromises our security.

In a recent poll conducted by the Democracy Corps, a Democratic group, likely voters, were asked what they thought were the two most important national security priorities for the government over the next few years.  Coming in first, with 42% was reducing dependence on foreign oil. A distant second was combating …

I sense a tipping point in the realm of energy and alternative energy. In an earlier post I strongly argued that we need to solve the energy problem to save ourselves. That was back in May. Since then I have followed the subject closely and think that we may well be approaching a tipping point in our perception about our almost total reliance on oil.

A tipping point is that point in time or occurrence that tips human behavior, perception or influence into a new area or perception. Almost over night things seem to change, perceptions …

The stock brokerage business was one of the first industries that was fundamentally disintermediated by the Internet. In an earlier post I both wrote about the history of the stock brokerage business and about William Yeh, the Chairman of Sogo Invest. Yeh was the man who, by launching SogoInvest where active traders could take advantage of $1.00 trades, completed the 30 year history of the deregulation and disintermediation of the stock brokerage business.

In an interview Yeh gave to fellow blogger Grant Wittenborn, he made it clear that he felt the day trader and the average investor …

Disintermediation is a favorite subject here. Regular readers know that I believe that we are in one of those historical eras when the world gets reorganized. As I have defined it in earlier posts, disintermediation always occurs during these significant periods and there is usually a dominant agent of disintermediation that forces the reorganization. In this period of course it is the Internet.

I have also written about the fact that while the effects the Internet has had on such businesses as the travel industry and stock brokerage are obvious, there are business sectors that are just at the …