--- description: Why OPEC won't raise oil prices, the rising Rust Belt, a boarding school in Afghanistan, reviving ideas from 90s dot-com busts and more. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: December 10 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2014 5:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 10, 2014 5:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**The cheap oil American consumers are enjoying might be the result of an existential battle between Saudi Arabia and ISIS.**](http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/12/oil-and-isis "undefined") By James R. Rogers in First Things **2\.** [**Turns out the busts of the first dot-com era were great ideas.**](http://www.wired.com/2014/12/da-bom/ "undefined") By Robert McMillan in Wired **3\.** [**The return of American manufacturing and a skilled population hungry for jobs is reviving the Rust Belt.**](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/07/the-rustbelt-roars-back-from-the-dead.html "undefined") By Joel Kotkin & Richey Piiparinen in the Daily Beast **4\.** [**Climate change might transform coal, oil, and gas reserves into financially-troubled stranded assets.**](http://mashable.com/2014/12/02/bank-of-england-carbon-bubble-climate/ "undefined") By Andrew Freedman in Mashable **5\.** [**A nonprofit boarding school for girls in Afghanistan is working to upend education there.**](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141209-afghanistan-girls-education-women-taliban-world/ "undefined") By Susan Daugherty in National Geographic  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3627685/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-10/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3627685/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-10/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: December 10","datePublished":"2014-12-10T17:01:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:44.408Z","description":"Why OPEC won't raise oil prices, the rising Rust Belt, a boarding school in Afghanistan, reviving ideas from 90s dot-com busts and more.","url":"https://time.com/3627685/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-10/","keywords":["Innovation","Afghanistan","Jobs","climate change","climate","School","Education","girls","Oil","ISIS","Saudi Arabia","Fossil fuels","Manufacturing","OPEC","ISIL","Islamic State"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3627685/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-december-10/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: December 10"}}]}] ```