There is an undercurrent of cultural changes in the Middle East region driven by the globalization of media and the Internet. Smart leaders will anticipate these changes and initiate gradual democratic reforms to avoid political instability and economic problems.

Med Jones

Sustainable prosperity and stability of the nations in the Middle East cannot be realized without re-engineering their state models to more open socioeconomic systems allowing equal access to national resources and opportunities instead of the current closed systems based on tribal, ethnic, and religious quotas

Take care of the success of those who work with you and they will take care of your success. Honor and respect those who support your success, including the ones who manage you and the ones you manage.

The adage that knowledge is power is true. In the world of financial markets and investments, knowledge is the ultimate power. Educate yourself before you invest, if you know something that others don't, you will make a lot of money

The best strategy to making money in the stock market is to buy an asset before it becomes too popular. You buy low and sell high, you do not buy high and hope you will sell higher. This is not an investment strategy it is speculation.

The forces of the Power Cycles work over time to distributes the power and wealth among nations. Every nation and every political party must go through the cycles of expansion and contraction. This is true for all past, current and future powers. The only difference is that this power cycle got accelerated tremendously with the introduction of the Internet and global communications.

The historical crusades against Muslim lands, the colonization of Spain by the Muslim Moors and India by the British were all driven by economic interests, despite the advertised reasons that were used to mobilize their armies at the time. In my opinion, the invasion of Iraq was not about spreading democracy or weapons of mass destruction, it was about the oil.

The poor work to make money for the rich, the middle class work to make money for themselves, the rich make money from other people's work.

Transformation does not happen by learning new information. It happens with the formation of new thinking patterns and new behavioral habits.

When people have hope that their economic conditions can improve by simply working harder, they care less about politics and religion, they may not like many things in their society but they are unlikely to get angry to a point of violent uprising or dividing the country. When people feel stuck or when they are poor and do not have much to lose, they are more likely to rise against the people in power.

You cannot lead others, if you cannot lead yourself. Know yourself and develop self discipline first, the rest is easy

I do not understand why some would call me an economic oracle. Although I correctly foretasted key economic events in the past 10 years, the truth is that any economic forecasting model can become useless with the change of just one variable. And if we learned anything from experience, the only constant in markets is change. The first rule of economic forecasting is to understand that it is a science of probability not a science of certainty.

If knowledge is power, then people knowledge is the ultimate power.

In pursuit of knowledge, something new is learned in pursuit of wisdom, something old is unlearned. To grow, we need to learn, unlearn and re-learn.

Lack of regulation is as bad as over-regulation. Although I believe governments should not regulate free market choices, I also believe they should regulate to protect investors against conflict of interests and negligence by investment bankers. Regulations should also ensure full transparency and disclosures and should effectively penalize violators.

Money takes care of those who take care of money. Invest it with care and it will take care of you.

Oil prices will keep breaking new records until other countries move to nuclear and alternative energy sources or we discover massive new reserves and increase production dramatically over the next few years.

One question can make all the difference between your success or failure. A winner asks how it will be done. A loser asks why it cannot be done. Asking how to succeed, helps you find a way. Asking why you will fail, gives you an excuse to stay.

The challenge is that CEOs now think like global investors, while the political leadership thinks like local civil servants. Getting the right policies to attract and develop talented labor, capital and diversify the income sources will determine the prosperity and wealth of the people of each nation.

The knowledge, wealth, and development gaps among nations is reducing and the reign of superpowers is shortening. Just look at the history of the Roman, Islamic, Russian and British empires, the newer the power the shorter the reign. In the economic and business worlds the same power cycles apply. Ford, IBM, Nokia and other companies all lost their leadership position to newer companies.

The knowledge, wealth, and development gaps among nations is reducing and the reign of superpowers is shortening. Just look at the history of the Roman, Islamic, Russian and British empires, the newer the power the shorter the reign. In the economic and business worlds the same power cycles apply. Ford, IBM, Nokia and other companies lost their leadership position to newer companies faster than their predecessors