There's one thing that the Fed has been really good at cracking down on, and that's inflation.

If you want a simple model for predicting the unemployment rate in the United States over the next few years, here it is: It will be what Greenspan wants it to be, plus or minus a random error reflecting the fact that he is not quite God.

I've always believed that a speculative bubble need not lead to a recession, as long as interest rates are cut quickly enough to stimulate alternative investments. But I had to face the fact that speculative bubbles usually are followed by recessions. My excuse has been that this was because the policy makers moved too slowly - that central banks were typically too slow to cut interest rates in the face of a burst bubble, giving the downturn time to build up a lot of momentum.

For most Americans, economic growth is a spectator sport.

Coming up with a good idea, with an insight into the way the world works that is really new and that you really believe in, is a deeply satisfying experience.

The United States in particular and the West in general should be feeling a little embarrassed about all that lecturing we did to the Third World.

People who are complaining about the Fed are people who've been predicting runaway inflation for five and six years, and it hasn't happened.