If you think so, you're not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession.

France isn't the first country to kick around the idea of paving its roads with solar panels.

There's a stimulative effect that kicks in when women have greater access to jobs and the economic lives of our countries: Greater political stability.

From self-service checkout lines at supermarket to industrial robots armed with saws and taught to carve up animal bodies in slaughter-houses, these ever-more-intelligent machines are now not just assisting workers but actually kicking them out of their jobs.