The government could either raise $100 by selling allowances and then give that amount in cash to particular businesses and individuals, or it could simply give $100 worth of allowances to those businesses and individuals, who could immediately and easily transform the allowances into cash through the secondary market.

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

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.

The most important thing for small businesses is getting the economy back on its feet. That - the key driver of small business activity is demand for their product, and that is what we are trying to do, getting the economy back on its feet. That's far more important than other factors.

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

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

Well, a deficit reflects an imbalance between spending and revenue, and so narrowing it requires acting on one, the other or both.