Wonder if this one's on the Applebee's menu ... the buyout special. Seems the International House of Pancakes is plunking down 1.9 billion to buy the Bees. That's big-time. Even bigger is that they're doing it with cold, hard cash. They don't have to do any two-bit financing or any other jazz. I wonder if they'll get some free onion peels with that.

When you have cash, you can do stuff. You can get deals and discounts. Using credit or getting car loans is for suckers, see? On top of that, you make better business decisions when you ain't leveraged to the hilt. If you have the cash, you can pick and choose what you want and not get desperate when tough times hit. Debt is a pair of cement shoes, but cash is the lifeboat, baby. Sink with one and swim with the other.