There is plenty of blame to go around for the U.S. housing bubble, but not much of it belongs to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two giant housing-finance institutions made many mistakes over the decades, some of them real whoppers, but causing house prices to soar and then crater during the past decade weren't among them.

The extension and expansion of the payroll tax holidays for workers would be number one on my list and key to avoiding recession.

The principal linkages between Japan and the U.S. global economies are trade, financial markets, and commodity markets.

It is hard to be enthusiastic about the economy's prospects when house prices are falling: Households spend less, small business owners can't use homes as collateral for loans and local governments are forced to cut jobs and programs as property-tax revenue disappears.

Defaulting on the nation's debt would be cataclysmic. The U.S. Treasury's Aaa rating is the one constant in the world's financial system. When times are bad anywhere on the planet, global investors flock to Treasury bonds because they know they will get their money back.

I only have two things in my life, my family and work. If there's any time left over, then I play sports.

The most important point is, in a time of crisis, there is no way out but for the government to be bold and aggressive.