Bill Reardon (born June 24, 1941) is an American politician and educator. He served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1975 to 2004, when he was replaced in the House of Representatives by his wife Kathy.

He was born in and is a life-long resident of Kansas City, Kansas. After attending Bishop Ward High School, he received a BA from Rockhurst College, now Rockhurst University, in 1963. He began teaching high school government and social studies at Bishop Miege High School in nearby Roeland Park and also became the girls assistant basketball coach. He would teach at the same school for the next 40 years. He earned his Masters degree from University of Missouri–Kansas City.

In 1974, he won the Democratic Party primary and then the general election. Reardon served 15 consecutive terms in the House, only the second state legislator to do so in the history of Kansas. An advocate for education, fair labor practices, social services and opposition to the death penalty and capital punishment. Bill has been married to Kathy, his wife for over 40 years, and they have three grown daughters. He currently works as a lobbyist for the Kansas City Kansas School District.

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington) is an American business magnate, computer programmer and philanthropist. Gates is the former chief executive officer (CEO) and current chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company he co-founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third; in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the second wealthiest person. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

Paul Robin Krugman ( /ˈkruːɡmən/; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences (informally the Nobel Prize in Economics) for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography. According to the Nobel Prize Committee, the prize was given for Krugman's work explaining the patterns of international trade and the geographic concentration of wealth, by examining the impact of economies of scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services.

Krugman is known in academia for his work on international economics (including trade theory, economic geography, and international finance),liquidity traps and currency crises. He is the 17th most widely cited economist in the world today and is ranked among the most influential academic thinkers in the US.