Postcards

Power Point: Make good decisions quickly

"If we do not correctly diagnose the causes, and instead act in haste to implement more rather than better regulations, we can do long-term harm."

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson in a speech in Simi Valley, California today. The question of how to make the best decisions is weighing on everyone these days - particularly on Paulson and Barack Obama. Is it better to act with a sense of urgency MORE

Power Point: Let your money grow

"You don't have to be a financial wizard (or go on a TV show) to become a millionaire. As Rock finally learned, you just have to stop spending all your money and save."

-- FDIC chairman Sheila Bair, in Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock, a children's book that she wrote in 2006. Bair's book is about twin boys who responded to their Grandpa's savings proposal in opposite ways. Brock saved. MORE

Coopetition, frenemies and mergers in the making

This morning, I read about the potential merger of General Motors (GM) and Chrysler. Then I read about the benign rivalry of two divas of the blog world, Arianna Huffington and Tina Brown. Two stories that have nothing to do with each other? You would think. But actually, they do. They point to a new reality of the business world: Competition isn't what it used to be. Competition becomes coopetition. MORE

Power Point: Regulate!

"The regulatory system in the U.S. is hopelessly outdated, outmoded. It's not just a matter of too little regulation. It's a matter of the wrong regulation. The big parts of the mortgage origination industry weren't even regulated to any great extent. It was state regulation and very inadequate. The power to look across the financial system and deal with systemic risk, no one had that."

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson MORE

Mack and Morgan Stanley: The leader makes the difference

In my 24 years of writing for Fortune, I've focused on profile-writing, steadfast in my view that people, not systems, determine the fates of companies and economies around the globe. George Bush is proof positive (or negative, as the case may be) that the leader makes the difference. Now, as we watch Morgan Stanley (MS) get a lifeline from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU), which is buying a $9 billion MORE

Random bits of hope

It's hard to be hopeful. Turmoil in the financial markets is spreading geographically and psychologically. The Dow closed down 508 points today. At last week's Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, we heard plenty about stress and sleep deprivation -- starting with Warren Buffett's comments on a clearly exhausted Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Sallie Krawcheck, who is leaving her high-level post at Citigroup (C), and Barclays Capital (BCS) vice chairman Barbara Byrne MORE

Power Point: Remember, you're free to fail too

"The freedom to fail goes right along with the freedom to succeed."

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, from Marc Guther's cover story, Paulson to the Rescue, in the September 29 issue of Fortune. Apropos words on a dark day for the U.S. markets. After the House rejected the government's $700 billion bank bailout plan, the Dow fell 777 points -- the worst single-day point loss ever.

Power Point: Embrace the imperfect capital market

"I think we've got fabulous capital markets in this country, and they get screwed up often enough to make them even more fabulous. I mean, you don't want a capital market that functions perfectly if you're in my business. "

--Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BERK) and billionaire investor, to Fortune's Nicholas Varchaver in his cover story, "What Warren Thinks..." On Tuesday Goldman Sachs (GS) announced that it will receive MORE

Power Point: Make history now

"Rather than trying to revise history afterward, I'm going to make it and get something done. It may not be perfect."

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, from Marc Guther's cover story, Paulson to the Rescue, in the current issue of Fortune. Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS), helped broker a deal for JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to acquire Bear Stearns in March and orchestrated the bailout of Freddie Mac MORE

Welcome to Postcards

Greetings from the pinnacle! As I launch this blog, Postcards, I'm perched on the 15th floor of the Time & Life Building in the center of Manhattan -- overlooking Rockefeller Center, to be precise. I have a sense, though, that I'm scanning the entire universe -- wanting to share with you the most fascinating, most fun, and most valuable ideas about super-achievers and other powerful people.

I have lots of ideas MORE