[D]ebt increases that didn't arise either from war or from extraordinary financial crisis are entirely associated with hard-line conservative governments.

Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.

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 have friends, political scientists, sociologists, who all share an interest at least in certain kinds of science fiction.

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

The problem isn't that people don't understand how good things are. It's that they know, from personal experience, that things really aren't that good.

The federal government is basically an insurance company with an army.