The ongoing dot.com market correction is far from having a negative effect on online retailing as a whole. It has actually led online retailers to renew their focus on customer service, cost reduction and profitability.

The only difference between McDonalds customers and the dinner crowd is that the latter dine on tablecloths. The powerful are as likely to be as portly as the plebes.

The only factors that actually prevented the first quarter from slipping into negative territory ... were the high starting point heading into it and the pre-war spending and inventory building we saw in January. As far as the second quarter is concerned, we are clearly losing momentum as we approach it.

The point about it is that if you're pointed toward some kind of goodness, some kind of light, something positive, you find your way through these trials and tribulations, ... I've basically dedicated my whole lyrical life to people's ability to cope with the struggle because I do believe there is a struggle. And I don't mean it in a negative sense. I just mean it in a realistic sense. Nothing is greater than staying right on the positive, but sometimes life can have a way of just pulling you back and dragging you a bit.

The people who can afford to move here in their 50s are affluent baby boomers. I think that trend will continue to drive our economy.