The extra curricular activity in which I was most engaged - debating - helped shape my interests in public policy.

My teachers helped guide and motivate me; but the responsibility of learning was left with me, an approach to learning which was later reinforced by my experiences at Amherst.

Most poor people earn more than minimum wage when they are working; their problem is not low wages. The problem comes when they are not working.

Poverty is what we call the extremes at the bottom.

This Iraq war has been the most "privatized" war in America's history. It has seen the most extensive use of contractors. The contractors have increased the costs; but they have been necessary - the military simply could not have done it on their own. we would have had to increase the size of the military. But the George W. Bush Administration wanted America to believe that it could have a war, essentially for free, without raising taxes, without increasing the size of the armed forces.

The proposal for a new global reserve currency - or Special Drawing Rights - is a good idea for many reasons. Yes, for the Chinese it would cushion any fall in the value of the dollar per se because it would only be part of a basket of other currencies, including the yen and the euro.

If the President asked you to help, I don't think anybody could refuse, unless one felt that one couldn't be effective.