Intuit's CEO Brad Smith has been very clear in his statements this year. He praises companies. He buys them. It's happened twice in conference calls, which may simply have revealed a course that was already well underway. But after he discussed how clients were saying how they wished Intuit's online payroll had PayCycle's feature, Intuit bought PayCycle. And after praising Mint.com for revitalizing the personal financial market space, Intuit has said it will spend $170 million in cash to pick up that company.