The principal linkages between Japan and the U.S. global economies are trade, financial markets, and commodity markets.

The packaged food manufacturers' ability to raise and maintain prices to offset rising commodity costs will be a key test of the shifting of power to the retailer. Moreover, escalating costs have negatively impacted the small and midsize food companies more than their larger counterparts due to the smaller companies' higher proportion of fixed-costs and limited economies of scale.

The purpose of the fund is to invest in habit-forming small ticket items which people think they can't live without, ... That turns out to (include) liquor and tobacco. But that's not it. I hate to tell you. The No. 1 habit-forming commodity is toilet paper.

The public, who consume the new commodity or profit by the new invention, are much better judges of its merit than the government can be.

The question about Dell is whether this is a commodity business. But this is a company with little debt, tremendous cash flows and a great reputation.