[Finance]

Not many people know this, but Superman and Batman made their debuts in 1938 and 1939 respectively, when the United States were still getting back on its feet after suffering through the Great Depression. They were created by a largely-Jewish group of artists who wanted to provide some escapism for weary Americans. It's ironic how superheroes are making a massive resurgence recently – right smack in the middle of the global economic slowdown.

I'm probably going to anger the guys at theultimatejoker.com by saying this, but the Joker wasn't the first villain that Batman encountered. Back then the caped crusader was named “The Bat-Man,” and he basically cleaned the town of thieves, embezzlers, corrupt higher-ups – in other words, the villains of the Great Depression. It wasn't until later that he and Superman were pitted against Hitler and the Nazi, when World War II broke out a few years later.

The #1 spot on Fortune Magazine's list of billionaires is yet again helmed by a giant in technology - Mexican telco billionaire, Carlos Slim. I find this somewhat comforting because I can remember a time, sometime around the late 90s, when I was doing some work with a startup operation, and the VCs who funded it kept reminding us of how they (the money people) who're the incumbents in real world business.