Jeff Bell Blog

For more and more aspects of our lives, the Internet is the "everyday answer." For travel, almost everyone uses the Internet over a travel agent or calling an airline directly. Surprisingly, financial services have overcome privacy and security concerns and now most people bank online. This follows the acceptance of the ATM in lieu of branch visits, so perhaps is not too surprising. We see that people are managing their careers online, whether with job search (careerbuilder) or resume management (linkedin). Even finding love (match.com) or other relationships (craigslist or hookup.com) is more and more the mainstream. We read that most people buy goods in stores, but Amazaon and other shopping sites are generally accepted. Most people do not use Skype to call, but more people adopt it for one-on-one connections with distant friends and family. The power has certainly shifted over the past decade. Comfort with the Internet has grown dramatically, as fear has subsided. Usage is...

My facebook page has been the home of some wonderful debates about our nation and our President. I would like to offer some thoughts about some fundamental "truisms" that seem to be at the core of the challenges we face today. My overall point is that the majority of Americans oppose big and growing government. They oppose high taxes to support big government. Why? Because we value freedom and competition. 1. America is a capitalist and consumerist society. People make choices everyday in a very competitive marketplace for the products and services they want and need. In my lifetime, competition has exploded in every industry -- transportation, food, technolgy, financial services. As consumers and capitalists, the majority of Americans do not believe the federal government provides good value for money. To be very clear, the majority of Americans do not believe that the taxes they pay are effectively nor efficiently spent to provide services they need and want. Inde...