Welcome to Carnival of the Capitalists!

It is a pleasure and a privilege to be hosting the first Carnival of the Capitalists for 2005! We have a wonderful line up for you this week. First, though, I want to pass along that submissions for future COTCs need to go to http://www.gongol.com/random/cotc/. The old capitalists -at- elhide -dot- com address is going away on Jan 3rd and entries sent there will no longer get into CoTC. 

The theme for this week’s COTC is:

Brains and Hearts - How we Use our Brains and Hearts as Tools of Progress and Meaning Here is a brief poem I created to illustrate the theme:

Brains and Hearts

With brains and hearts we plunge into the future
Hoping to better our lives and realize our dreams
Sorting through endless possibilities, digging deeper
Questions, contemplation, and impassioned screams

Spiders spin, gibbons swing, whales breach, ants build
Race horses and sled dogs thrive only when in full stride
With brains and hearts we carve a life fulfilled
Thinking, creating, and contributing to life’s joyride

It is natural for us to reflect and set goals as our calendars click over to a new year. This year, we are doubly motivated to think and rethink things as a result of the massive tsunami disaster. This week’s posts reflect this and propel our thinking forward into the new year.

Check out this post by Todd at A Penny For... about how bloggers were named Person of the Year by ABC News. What we say and do is making an impact. Our voice is important, facilitative, and real. Being genuine, generous, and open are all admirable traits of most bloggers and certainly those represented here.

I have grouped this week’s COTC contributions into the following questions that are often the foundation of how we use our brains and hearts for progress:

What is to come? We are all futurists and our ability to look forward can help us shape a better today.

What is wrong with this picture? Our ability and drive to question our thinking helps us transcend the status quo and create new realities. I look at criticism and complaints as cloaked ideas and unearthed support.

What if? New ideas are the fuel for our continued growth and health. We all have great ideas, but often curtail them for fear of censure or failure. These posts share interesting ideas for improving a variety of aspects of daily life.

What is success? We all want to make a difference at work. We want to enjoy our jobs and see the fruits of our labor. Here are several posts that offer ways to improve our work experience (and, therefore, our lives).

What can I do? I wrap up this week’s offerings with three posts and a plea of my own (for President Bush) about how we can contribute to society. It is when we contribute that we feel the richest, don’t you think?

What is to come?

Jeff over at the Entrepreneurial Mind offers A Round-up of Predictions for 2005. Some serious, some fun. My favorite is “Canada will rally to become part of the U.S.” Yeah, right, that’ll happen as soon as cheese curds are sold at McDonald’s drive-throughs (I am a Canuck living in Seattle, by the way).

The Internet Stock Blog gives us Five Internet Danger Signs to Watch for in 2005. If you invest in, follow, or care about Internet stocks, you definitely want to check this out.

This Brainwaves post called Mental Health Will Be the Ultimate Business Weapon, is intriguing. Find out if you have the “Neuroadvantage.”

In Tsunamis Do Happen, the Capital Chronicle makes a few predictions about China’s growth.

Random Roger’s Big Picture offers a few market predictions in a post called The Big Picture for the Week of January 2, 2005.

Over at BusinessWorks Inc., predictions about the Internet and smart devices are offered in The Circle of Information.

Byrne's MarketView makes a prediction about the profitability and revenue potential of blogging in, Blogging: The Winners, The Losers.

The EGO blog offers trends for 2005 in, Five Trends According to Inc. Magazine.

Small Business Trends offers the Top Travel Trends for 2005.

What is wrong with this picture?

Shaking Spears wonders, Is Kyoto Obsolete Before It’s Even Implemented? and other questions about saving the environment vs. economic growth.

On a somewhat related note, Interested-Participant looks at the costs of going green in Environment-Conscious Business.

Mad Anthony comments on WSJ’s nomination of Steve Jobs as one of the 15 people to watch in his post, Mmm, Apples... He makes some great points and I wonder about (as an Apple user) and hope that Apple does not make some of the same mistakes as Krispy Kreme.

An interesting rant about toll booths is the topic of Everything Is Unconstitutional offered by The Electric Commentary. I like how he links toll booths to the government’s supposed goal to be intentionally annoying. That would explain many things, don’t you think?

Gongol.com offers a thought provoking critique about Disaster Notifications. A critical topic if we are to handle future natural disasters more effectively.

Gapingvoid offers tasty food for thought for those of us endeavoring to build our businesses and brands in Lovemark Detractors.

The Big Picture shares thoughts about how the music industry is viewing their products, perhaps, differently that its users in Music Industry Responding (slowly) to Pricing Issues.

Conglomerate comments on a recent FASB rule in, How Much is that Stock Option?

In the post with the longest title, Scrivener.net offers, You thought the 2004 federal deficit was $412 billion? How about $11.1 trillion, by the accounting rules the private sector uses. An interesting look at our government’s financial health (Dr. Weil, it needs help!).

Law & Entrepreneurship News debunks the theory that most women owned businesses are not women owned in, Skepticism Surrounds Many Women Owned Small Businesses.

The Coyote Blog rants about taxpayer bailouts in Messed Up Pensions.

Alan K. Henderson's Weblog offers this post called, You Go To Disaster Relief With The Economy That You Have.

What if?

I’ll start off this section about new ideas with a book review post offered by Photon Courier. Harold reviews They Made America, a book about some of the greatest minds in American history.

The Calico Cat ponders ways to lower the costs of drugs in an aptly named post, How to Lower the Cost of Drugs.

Sticking with the health theme, EconLog offers thoughts on the pros and cons of changing how and whether Medicaid pays for nursing home care in, Or is it Medicaid?

A Constrained Vision offers a good idea that would allow cities to generate more funds for public transportation in, A Solution to Metro’s Fiscal Crisis. Here in Seattle, we need a few good ideas to keep our beloved ferries afloat, too.

Lip-Sticking discusses her discussions about how to market to women online in her post, Jane Discusses the F-Word. This is apparently the decade of the couple - I did not know that! Jane also gets my vote for best post title of the collection.

Blog Business World offers ideas for improving online revenues in, Raise Your Sales with a Great Landing Page.

Catallarchy demonstrates how it matters who owns certain economic goods in order for those goods to have economic value in this post, Owner-Specific, Non-Economic Assets.

What is success?

How to Sell to Your Boss is a wonderful and meaty post offered by Working Smart. If you have an idea or proposal that you want to pitch well, read this post first!

Here are two pieces on corporate culture: The Worthwhile Blog offers this short but sweet post called Finding your Passion Inside the Corporate Hairball. Over at The Comp Expert, the discussion is turns to the struggling airline industry and the role of culture in, US Airways and Culture.

Do you procrastinate? This is the time of year to get things off to a great start. Here are two posts for you to consider: Occupational Adventure shares thoughts about combatting procrastination in Keeping a Procrastination Log. For ideas about the art of focused procrastination, check out Slacker Manager‘s post, which offers another perspective on procrastination and coins a new term; Procradiscipline.

The T&D Blog (Training and Development) shares study statistics in, What Companies are Doing to Improve Performance. Being a practitioner in this area, I think the companies surveyed are missing the boat, but it’s interesting to see where Corporate America’s head is at.

What can I do?

The three posts in this set all share a desire to make this planet better and some frustration and questions about the best ways to make this happen. It is a natural and human struggle that calls on the best of our hearts and minds.

This is a quick post from the Tom Peters blog about making this new year about contribution. I like the succinct way he framed our opportunity and responsibility in, A Different New Year’s Eve?!

We’ve all been reading Evelyn’s posts about her experiences post-tsumani. This post shares her frustration over the sometimes sensationalistic media and her need to share in a more meaningful way. Her underlying messages make us all think in, God, There Must Be A Better Way to Build Blog Traffic.

Finally, a post from The Small Change News Network about grassroots projects and the natural tension between small good works and the pressures to become a non-profit to woo funds, in Non-Profit and Grassroots? This is an issue for those of us who want to do great work in our community and for those of us who want to support these types of projects.

I have this plea: Mr. President, cancel your inauguration parties. In the best of times, it is a waste of taxpayer money to throw parties for a returning president. But now, the inauguration fanfair makes even less sense in light of the needs in Asia, for the war, and to reduce our deficit. I think the American People would prefer the money be better spent or saved!

Wow, that is quite a collection, eh? Thanks to all the contributors of this week’s COTC! Next week, COTC will be hosted by Odyssey of the Mind.