The more comprehensive and convincing a debt reduction program is, the less likely it is to fail. And remember, just as Germany is grateful to America for the Marshall Plan, Italy would be grateful to Germany for helping it lower its refinancing costs.

The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism. Politicians challenge it at their peril because of the lobby's ability to influence political contributions.

To my mind, there is a solution which has to do with democracy, because democratic governments are subject to the will of the people. So, if the people will it, you can actually create international institutions through the democratic states.

What works for Germany can't work for the rest of Europe: No country can run a chronic surplus without others running deficits.

Increase your bets when you are confident and scale down your positions when you don't have conviction.

I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes

I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful - but also very harmful to our society.