The science fiction world has a lot of people doing seriously imaginative thinking.

I don't think I've had any great success in predicting politics or social change, nor have I really tried.

Economists don't usually make good speculators, because they think too much.

I really think that people have to think safety; taking risks for higher yield is a bad idea once you're in late or latish middle age.

Anyone who thinks that the last 80 years, ever since FDR took us off gold, have been a doomed venture, that strikes me as kind of cranky.

I think Stockman is an interesting sort of amalgam.

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.

Unsustainable situations usually go on longer than most economists think possible. But they always end, and when they do, it's often painful.