We will have more crises and none of them will look like this because no two crises have anything in common except human nature.

We need, in effect, to make the phantom 'lock-boxes' around the trust fund real.

Without the triggers, that tax cut is irreponsible fiscal policy. Eventually, I think that will be the consensus view.

We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami. Central banks and governments are being required to take unprecedented measures. Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity are in a state of shocked disbelief.

Productivity is notoriously difficult to predict.

The only sustainable way to increase demand for vacant houses is to spur the formation of new households. Admitting more skilled immigrants, who tend to earn enough to buy homes, would accomplish that while paying other dividends to the U.S. economy.

But how do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions as they have in Japan over the past decade?