Politically Incorrect was the name of the show Bill Maher hosted in the 1990s. It's also an apt description of the man himself. Now host of - HBO's hit show Real Time, I find Maher to be one of the sharpest observers of American politics and life in general out there. It doesn't mean I always agree with him. I always find him funny, though.

The markets are much more interested in America's long-term trajectory than they are in feeling that there is an acute short-term crisis.

Politics and power is a realm of relative influence.

American influence is not what it used to be.

I think it is quite untrue that it is standard journalistic practice to name the interviewer when quoting from an interview.

California has often led the country, indeed the world, in the technology, consumption, trends, lifestyles, and of course, mass entertainment. It is where the car found its earliest and fullest expression, where suburbs blossomed, where going to gym replaced going to church, where forces that lead so many to assume that direct democracy is the wave of the future - declining political parties, telecommuting, new technology, the internet generation 0 are all most well developed in this vast land.

Having your fiscal house in order and having a more manageable macro-economic future is going to be very useful in creating growth.