Nick Oliva - Business

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Starbucks should serve wine and beer. They should do a quick change at closing from baristas to bartenders and stay open until 4 AM. What a GREAT way to put those stores to use when they're closed. I would change nothing else. Just shift over to beer, wine, and cocktails in a casual environment. Limit the number of people in the place so it doesn't become "a bar". This would be AWESOME!

Congress should enact the Employee Free Choice Act.

The financial crisis will not lead to another economic depression. There isn't the fear that would need to be there.

Management is most responsible for the U.S. auto industry's financial problems. All of the others stem from management woes.

The U.S. government should not try to recoup AIG bonuses. They should have thought of limiting bonuses at the time they gave them the money.

Credit cards are my preferred method of payment. I like that someone else takes the risk of being ripped off and that I get to float the money for a month... and best of all, it's totally free (so long as you pay it off).

Zipcar is a convenient alternative to owning a car in an urban area. Convenient, yes... reliable? Practical?

The SEC should strengthen regulations on short selling. Only inasmuch as you need to ensure there's no manipulation. Nothing wrong with betting against a company... so long as you aren't doing anything to help them kick the can.

Mark-to-market accounting should not be suspended. Suspending it is politically correct, but there's good reason for it.

Governments should not infuse capital directly into failing banks as part of their response to the financial crisis. If people aren't paying their loans, make loan payments on behalf of people... and have the people owe you. Giving money to the banks just gives the same people that screwed up or abused a chance to do it again.

Governments should not nationalize insolvent banks in response to the financial crisis. Nationalization implies management... can't agree with that.

The U.S. federal government should provide financial support to its auto industry.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act should be repealed. It's ridiculous to try to do so much work as though it's going to make uncertainty less uncertain - for there to be profit, there must be risk.

The government should not regulate salaries of companies who have received bailout funds. If the government was running the companies then... ok. But since we are not in Cuba, then... no.

I do not smoke cigarettes.

Air travel is safer since 9-11. Because attitudes have changed. People will not be as likely to be complacent again.

Unions should be permitted to strike. Without the ability to strike unions would be impotent. However, members should not be forced to join the strike - only in that way can a check on the power of the union boss be effective; the support of the membership would be required.

Unions have a positive impact on the economy. Employees acting as a group is a good thing. If it were more prevalent, then some of the kinks could be more easily worked out.

The federal minimum wage increase will have a positive effect on poverty. Eventually you reach equilibrium... so any reactionaries that fire or stop hiring on the basis of a few pennies will eventually jump back in or be replaced by others.

The U.S. should not provide tax breaks for businesses that do not outsource. Because doing it this way reduces the tax base. However, businesses that do outsource ought to be charged penalties by the states they do business in, or equivalently, lose any breaks they were given. In particular, if a company received a break for setting up an office and then offshores the jobs, they acted in bad faith.

The economic stimulus plan should not include a 'Buy American' provision.

Cleanliness is the most important accommodation factor when traveling as a tourist. Hard to isolate just one as they are all important. But if a place isn't clean, I'm going to leave and I won't care about anything else.

Starbucks brews a better-tasting coffee than Dunkin' Donuts. I like the Pike Place brew and can't say I've ever been particularly impressed with DD.

Lehman Brothers should not have been bailed out by the federal government. I still don't see how it's good for capitalism for the government to bailout individual companies in an industry.

Communities should not be allowed to print their own currency for use at local businesses. Ridiculous! When you have currency that isn't liquid people either end up losing it (as with gift cards that expire) or they are forced to use it on things they wouldn't otherwise buy. This is market manipulation. It smells of gimmicks like that used by health clubs that make you give them 45 days notice before you can quit... it's just a guaranteed extra amount of money they extract from you above what you intended. All of these currency-replacement-for-fleecing schemes should be illegal.

It was not appropriate for the Obama Administration to force GM's CEO Rick Wagoner to resign. I'm horrified by this. It's too much for a president to intervene in this way; it's way too direct. Also, it's a reckless move. GM may die anyway and now there's a powerful argument to be made that Obama nailed the coffin shut by changing captains when the ship was in trouble. He owns the outcome now... why would you take that on?

AIG should not be forced to reveal the names of executives that received bonuses. Outrageous! A gross violation of the individuals' privacy.

The government should not allow large banks to fail. But if it's going to try to save them it should do it under a federal program that takes the reins and decides how to spend bailout money. It's just a basic rule that you don't trust people that drove a business into ruin with new money... good money after bad.

Microsoft retail stores will not effectively compete with Apple. I wouldn't bet on Microsoft retail stores to compete effectively with K-Mart.

The government should not prohibit the financial services industry from executing universal default clauses. I do think corrections are necessary. If the government wants to provide a safety net to assist homeborrowers in paying their mortgages... then do that... but telling businesses they can't execute contracts unilaterally is bad for investor confidence and

Bankruptcy courts should have the power to adjust home mortgages. They should be permitted to do whatever is necessary to facilitate the resolution of all assets. They should also be able to sell the mansions of the bankrupt in Texas and Florida and move them into more appropriate diggs.

Organic farmers should not receive additional federal subsidies. No farmers should receive federal subsidies. Let's stop the red state welfare program now!

Governments should not subsidize property insurance coverage for natural disasters. If they do, it's just likely to perpetuate the travesty of people rebuilding where they know their house is just going to be destroyed again...

The federal government's financial bailout package will help stabilize the U.S. economy. It will stabilize eventually... and all efforts that increase confidence in our systems - such as the bailout or even... say... a successful prosecution of G. W. Bush - can be said to have helped the stabilization.

Short-selling has a positive effect on financial markets. In the sense that it improves market efficiency, it's a positive thing. It's only the same mentality that says the 4th place Little League team deserves a trophy that suggests that betting that the value of a company's shares will go down is somehow damag

Farmers should not grow genetically modified crops. GM is dangerous. We're not going to know the impacts for a long time, so we shouldn't be playing games.

Free trade is necessary for economic development. If you don't have free trade, you're going to stagnate. Planned or contained economies are inherently inefficient.

Bush Administration policies have had a negative impact on the economy. I think it's safe to say that the Bush administration's policies have been a disaster.

Food should contain country-of-origin labeling. How else can you just stop eating anything that comes from China?

AIG should not have been bailed out by the federal government. No, they should have figured out how to transfer their customers to other insurers that would honor the existing coverage and let AIG fail.