Ma is the founder of Alibaba, which is similar to eBay, I believe.

"It's not that other countries steal jobs from you guys," Ma said. "It's your strategy. Distribute the money and things in a proper way."

According to Ma, the US wasted over $14 trillion in fighting wars over the past 30 years rather than investing in infrastructure at home. Ma named this as the main reason that the US economy is weakening.

snip ...

If you watch TV, you'll see the ads begging for $$$ to help people (and animals) here and around the world. Many are very worthwhile causes, which leads me to wonder: why aren't such worthwhile causes funded instead of being forced to beg on TV? Should it be that way?

I have no idea who’s in charge here – and I like it that way. I know JtC and dkmich are big kahunas and that’s all I know. Anyway, we exchanged some ideas of priorities this morning. Here’s a primer, if it would be useful, for us to discuss these matters. Consider it a soccer ball and we’ll punt it around until it takes on the shape we like. A lifetime ago, I was a brash young management consultant, specializing in strategic planning. I was full of beans and even fuller of sh*t, but I’m younger now. I’ve forgotten all the details, but I still think in those ways. So here goes, in descending order of importance, I suppose.