Welcome to this week's Carnival of the Capitalists!

Category: Starting a New Business
Tim Oren writes about the times when a startup's technology lead doesn't matter.

Pelle Braendgaard puts forth a concept for building new businesses which fall beneath the radar of venture capital.

Travis McMenimon says that an entrepreneur needs to follow his passion to be successful.

Category: Making Technology Work For You
Giselle Tesoro writes about a topic near and dear to my own heart: usability, and how poor web site usability is a business problem, not just a technical one. Hear hear! And let's not forget usability in automated phone systems, either!

Joshi Naveen has an interesting article on managing risk and technology development in the defense industry, where the only customer is the government.

Anita Campbell argues in the RFID weblog that privacy issues for RFID need to be fully aired to avoid a consumer backlash.

Wayne Hurlburt discusses making sure your web site appears at the top of all search engines, not just Google.

John Dmohowski writes about how blogs are putting the human face back on the corporation, after 20 years of dehumanizing customer service.

John Beck thinks that sooner or later, we're going to have to pay the price for running up debt over the past 20 years.

Category: The Ivory Tower Is A Nice Place to Visit, but....
Jonathan Wilde has a surprisingly entertaining article about fractional reserve banking. I never realized how closely connected the subject was to Godzilla and thermonuclear devices....

Jim Stroup responds to some critiques of his Managing Leadership book.

Jeff Cornwall has a thoughtful article about the idea of companies becoming more entrepreneurial as an alternative to outsourcing. His take: Nice idea, but hard in practice.

Joe Kristan writes about the influence of former IRS agents on the audit process.

Wordlab discusses the slogan Beanz Meanz Heinz.

David Foster has a great article on the importance of respecting all talents, not just the ones you happen to possess.

Category: The Big Picture
Tim Worstall makes the case that record high oil prices don't mean that the end of the Oil Age is upon us.

Michael Kantor argues that restrictive zoning regulations lead to an increase in housing prices. (Editor's Note: This site appeared to be temporarily down at the time I was compiling CotC. It should be back shortly.)

Anita Campbell points out in the Small Business Trends weblog that many small businesses will undergo a generational shift over the next few years .

Category: You Can't Avoid Politics In An Election Year
Mike Pechar thinks that Ohio's economy isn't as bad as the Democrats like to paint it.

Robert Sama wins "Title of the Week" award with "Kerry is on Drugs," discussing John Kerry's proposal to allow reimportation of medicines from Canada.

Pieter Dorsman sees Mattel's new Presidential Candidate Barbie as a desperation move.

Barry Ritholtz debunks the notion that the stock market is taking sides in November's election .

The Independent Institute's Nicolas Heidorn writes about farm subsidies.

That's it for this week. Next week, CotC will be at The Mobile Technology Weblog.