There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way - and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed.

I don't think I've had any great success in predicting politics or social change, nor have I really tried.

The economic expansion that began in 2001, while it has been great for corporate profits, has yet to produce any significant gains for ordinary working Americans. And now it looks as if it never will.

It's a funny thing, by the way, how people who love free markets are also quite sure that they know that investors are being irrational.

In short, it's a great economy if you're a high-level corporate executive or someone who owns a lot of stock. For most other Americans, economic growth is a spectator sport.

But Wall Street people are in fact very smart; they're funny, they're not company men who work their way up the chain.

I think Stockman is an interesting sort of amalgam.