Once you run current-account deficits, you depend on the kindness of strangers. This might be the beginning of the end of the American empire.

I'm a rock star among geeks, wonks, and nerds.

What we need to understand is, one, that there are market failures; and two, that there are things like asset bubbles and irrational exuberance. There are periods of booms, bubbles, and manias. These things, if left to themselves, can lead to crashes, to busts, to panics.

I'm not a pessimist by nature. I'm not someone who sees things in a bleak way.

Gold has no increasing value. And if you're really worried about, say, inflation rising, I would buy Spam. You know, you can eat Spam. You cannot eat gold.

All the risky things that were happening back in ’06 and ‘07 are back again to the same level, if not more. So we are in the beginning of a credit bubble, but just the beginning.

I think investing in a good education has been key for me, although the investment was more in time than money.