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The cost to send a letter via the U.S. mail is now at an all-time high: 44 cents. The cost of a standard postcard is 28 cents. There was a time when a postcard could be sent for 1 cent, if one can imagine that! The sad thing is that there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to the cost of snail mail...

Recently, library chief Helen Josephine of Stanford University's Engineering Library said that the students' search through volumes of books to get to a formula that they want is basically at an end because "with books being digitized and available through full text search capabilities, they can fin...

Today's CEO is beset by many challenges, not the least of which is dealing with his/her board of directors. This challenge has been rendered more difficult since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002. We are reminded how the collapse of Enron caused a backlash from Congress, thus resulting in the pa...

Have you ever considered whether you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? You might think that there aren't many objective ways by which you can assess your entrepreneurial ability. Actually, there are. One of the quickest ways by which you can get some idea of your innate talents for entrepren...

Today, technology is wonderfully ubiquitous. It runs our electric grids, keeps planes from crashing into one another, and puts the most treasured asset of all, information, at our fingertips. Yes, we are extremely fortunate that knowledge is so easy to get and so easy to transfer and pass on to othe...

In the post-Sarbanes-Oxley world, board members face multiple challenges that they must address if they are to fulfill their fiduciary duties. Having a former top corporate executive and experienced board member address these challenges provides a wonderful window of opportunity for current and pros...

If I were to ask you what you thought were the main causes for business failure, what would your answer be? Lack of working capital; trying economic conditions; severe competition; obsolescence of a product? Actually, if you cited any of the preceding, you probably would be partially correct. I say ...

When starting a new enterprise, it's always wise to choose the right form of business. Right off, I should say that it is always wise to have a good attorney and a good CPA to guide you. This article will touch on some major guidelines, but it should be used neither as a tax guide nor as a legal gui...

A well-rounded board is an absolute necessity in these economically trying times. The average board of today usually consists of at least one person who has expertise in the company's business; a high-profile person who brings credibility and gravitas to issues; a financial person who, among other t...

The stock market has had a remarkable ride in 2009. Presently, it has substantially recovered from its low point of March, 2009. Many of us are wondering where it is now heading, given that so many people have their retirement savings tied up in the market. In fact, I am often asked to prognosticate...

Frequently, clients and friends ask my opinion about the economic stimulus package. Is it really working? Does it make any economic sense? Aren't we digging a deeper hole for our children, our grandchildren and ourselves? These are understandable concerns, and they reflect the anxiety of the America...

There have been several suggestions by China, Brazil, Russia and other countries, and by a U.N. Commission headed by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, as well as by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for a new global reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar. Increasingly, the me...

It's been clear for some time that print media has to adopt a new business model or basically face extinction. What wasn't so clear, even a few months ago, is how fast the industry would decline. Recent events are a dramatic illustration of what appears to be a tailspin. On March 16 of this month, t...

"As the world struggles to rebuild confidence and trust in markets, the values of currencies fluctuate widely and cause uncertainty and increase currency risk," according to Morrison Bonpasse, president of the Single Global Currency Association, as he speaks with E-Commerce Times columnist Theodore ...

From time to time, attorneys ask me to act as mediator in a situation where partners in a business are not getting along. My experience has been that partners act more like a team when they are struggling together to make the company survive. But surprisingly, the business is usually quite profitabl...

Now that both the country and the world are in dire economic straits, attention has recently been drawn to the -- in some cases -- outsized amount of CEO compensation, especially in the cases of companies that have benefited from a U.S. government bailout. The current economic morass notwithstanding...

We are all painfully aware of what is happening on Wall Street. In fact, I think that it might take several years for the stock market to regain the value that it has lost in the past year -- approximately 35 percent. No doubt, there is plenty of blame to go around as to who is primarily responsible...

Competition for building a profitable Web site is quite fierce. Yet many of us have dreams of a unique concept that will attract viewers, followed soon thereafter by advertisers. I'm not sure what percentage of aspirants succeed in this quest, but I would venture to guess that it's a very low percen...

Most people are aware that print media is in trouble. Nationally, thousands of employees of print media companies, especially newspapers, have been laid off. How do print media stay vital? Alternatively, will print media even exist 20 years from now? Print media have some pretty obvious strengths, l...

In a recent article for the E-Commerce Times entitled "Getting Serious About Energy Independence," I outlined what I thought was the general direction the country should take in order to conserve energy and ultimately become energy independent. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail from th...