Do we have the capability to eliminate booms and busts in economic activity? The answer in my judgment is no, because there is no tool to change human nature. Too often people are prone to recurring bouts of optimism and pessimism.
October 11, 2012
Ben Gaines and I approached the front door of the Union Club of Boston. Ben was a political commentator from Washington with a heavy Yiddish accent. And I was a 25-year-old Irish kid from public housing with a bad Boston accent. A butler opened the door for us. The club was a total bastion of Boston investment Brahmins. These people...