Although value is a weak force in any single year, it becomes a monster over several years. Like gravity, it slowly wears down the opposition.

Capitalism believes that its remit is exclusively to make maximum short-term profits.

We live on a finite planet. We have finite resources, and we're running out of good, arable land.

Investment bubbles and high animal spirits do not materialize out of thin air. They need extremely favorable economic fundamentals together with free and easy, cheap credit, and they need it for at least two or three years. Importantly, they also need serial pleasant surprises in such critical variables as global GNP growth.

The potential for alternative energy sources, mainly solar and wind power, to completely replace coal and gas for utility generation globally is, I think, certain. The question is only whether it takes 30 years or 70 years.

Profit margins are probably the most mean-reverting series in finance, and if profit margins do not mean-revert, then something has gone badly wrong with capitalism. If high profits do not attract competition, there is something wrong with the system and it is not functioning properly.

Remember that history always repeats itself. Every great bubble in history has broken. There are no exceptions.