I've always wanted to invest. That's why I started working on Wall Street in the first place, back in 1986 when I went through the Salomon Brothers training program.

One of the greatest investments of our lifetime has been New York City real estate, and investors made the highest returns when they bought stuff during the 1970s and 1980s when people were getting mugged. The lesson is that you make the most money when you buy stuff that's out of consensus.

The idea of the U.S. as a corporation is more than a thought experiment. It's a way to reposition our approach to long-term problems. What would U.S.A. Inc. be worth? Who would want to buy its shares?

I grew up in a small town in northeastern Indiana. I had an all-American childhood. And I grew up as an optimist.