Brother, can you spare a dime?

Debt deals, eternal soul searching, justice wheels unmoving or notwithstanding, we live in very, very troubled times.

So who shall emerge (or lies hidden) as the world's bodyguard?

Can I have another Apple, please?

The United States of Apple: How Jobs & Co. Amassed More Cash Than The Federal Government

Five steps to Being Al (or Triple A or simply A1 [not the steak sauce, but oh, how my poor, depraved capitalist mouth drools right now):

1. Shatter conventional wisdom.

2. No limits.

3. Innovation wins.

4. Design matters.

5. Passion first.

"You only have power over people so long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power - he's free again." ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Meanwhile, keeping with the Al (or A1) theme today, come these words:

"They are living like parasites off the global economy and their monopoly of the dollar." ~Vladimir Putin

Oops, sorry that's Vlad (Bill).

Via The Telegraph on July 18th.

Way to keep it real, man.