There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises.

You really have to go searching desperately to find any contemporary examples of good, old-fashioned runaway inflation.

These days, however, the main problem comes from the right - from conservatives who, unlike most economists, really do think that the free market is always right - to such an extent that they refuse to believe even the most overwhelming scientific evidence if it seems to suggest a justification for government action.

Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes. It's going to be that we're actually going to take Medicare under control, and we're going to have to get some additional revenue, probably from a VAT. But it's not going to happen now.

When depression economics prevails, the usual rules of economic policy no longer apply: virtue becomes vice, caution is risky and prudence is folly.

The French, unfortunately, actually believe what they say, and that has been very destructive.

Outrageous fiscal mendacity is neither historically normal nor bipartisan. It’s a modern Republican thing.