Some societies are also more optimistic than others: the U.S. and Australia are my two picks Tell a European you think there’s a housing bubble and you’ll have a reasonable discussion. Tell an Australian and you’ll have World War III. Been there, done that!

By background I'm both a Quaker and a Yorkshireman, which I like to call double jeopardy.

I like to be right. I try not to miss the big ideas, forget the little ones, and try to get them right. End of job description.

...how little our side of the industry did to move its business to the more ethical firms and to make a fuss about conflicted or unethical behavior. Had a number of us moved our business, we might have slowed or even stopped the 30-year slide in conflicted, unethical behavior that we have experienced. I, for one, regret the modest nature of our moves. We all could have done more. We have tolerated a pretty nasty decline in standards. Shame on us.

The individual is far better-positioned to wait patiently for the right pitch while paying no regard to what others are doing, which is almost impossible for professionals.

There is no single theory that is used in economics that considers the finite nature of resources. It's shocking.

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