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Remaining Cautiously Optimistic On the Market

Your arguments might be stronger if you picked some examples not subject to hype.

Satellite radio - nice technology, very poor financial performance
Gmail - wasn't free email popularized by Microsoft? Started in 1998 vs. Gmail's 2004?
Online classrooms - Get YOUR degree in 6 weeks! 'nuff said
iPhone - I'd believe the technology more if I were not literally surrounded by Aapl billboard ads. Aapl's ad spending numbers are not easy to find, but I have a hard time calling Apple a technology company when their R & D spending is 4% of their overall sales (2006). Their general expenses, including marketing, is 17%. To compare: Intel's R & D is 16.6% of sales with general being 17.2%. But Intel has capital equipment and has many more employees, furthermore is in a down revenue phase due to the price war with AMD.

The American Economy Is More Than Holding Its Own

Nice optimism.

The question is whether the plankton theory is right:

Can the US economy survive with just the technical/financial/ma... elite thriving while every other American loses purchasing power?

Let them eat Cake!