Well, I think what we need to remember is that budget deficits can impede economic activity.

For example, I was privileged to be working at the White House under the Clinton administration and had not finished my Ph.D., and I thought I was the cat's meow.

Total borrowing has imploded. Private borrowing has collapsed. And, in effect, the Treasury Department is the last borrower left standing.

Something that's unsustainable, like a dysfunctional relationship, can go on longer than you expect, and then end faster and messier than you think.

There've been times where I wondered whether it was worth continuing in my own education.

Every day is like that, eight successive meetings on eight different topics, every one really important and interesting.

My mom is a very warm, typical sort of Jewish-mother type. And my dad has a somewhat, um, different personality.