On the other hand, fixed rate mortgages have higher interest rates so it may not make sense to pay more to lock in a fixed rate for longer than you need it.

FORBES: 7 Steps to Buying a Home You Can Actually Afford

We believe programs like Amazon Prime lock-in customers and make it less likely that they will make a purchase from competing platforms.

FORBES: Alliance Of Retailers Opposing Amazon

Moreover, while Microsoft's Vista operating system has received mediocre reviews, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant offers a host of tools, from e-mail software to its ubiquitous Office productivity suite, that will make it impossible to break Windows' lock on big businesses anytime soon.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The Environment Agency says it needed to make savings, and other lock keepers could perform the same job.

BBC: Flood fears over lock keeper cottage rent plan

However impassioned your beliefs, it's ill-advised to make politics personal as Welsh assembly candidate Joe Lock learned.

BBC: Facebook: Five things to avoid

Ownership of what is essentially a dead asset doesn't make us more productive, doesn't open up foreign markets, but it does land-lock us.

FORBES: Political Economy