The society that promises no risks, and whose leaders use the word "risk" only as a pejorative, may be able to protect life, but there will be no liberty, and very little pursuit of happiness....

People are pretty smart. They had no trouble figuring out that if they earned 3% on their savings when inflation was in double digits, then the system was stealing them blind. They also perceived that if they borrowed at 9% or 12% when inflation was 18%, then they were beating the system....

The relationship of wages, prices, profits, losses, and deficits are all out of kilter-they no longer tell us the true value of anything. It is impossible to make rational decisions when you do not know what anything is worth today, much less what it is likely to be worth tomorrow....

Every line in the government's budget has a constituency. Everyone in America has by now made some kind of handshake deal with some level of government-federal, state, or municipal....

Our real task for the future is to rethink our basic goals... .We must start by telling ourselves the truth.