Next to my family, it seems clear to me that the educational institutions and the teachers from whom I had the privilege of learning were especially important.

Globalization has redefined the competition for employment and incomes in the United States. Tradeoffs will have to be made between the two.

A split between the U.S. and its traditional allies, if it becomes a permanent feature of the new global order, would lead to deeper fragmentation among the world's market-oriented democracies. That will surely shift the long-term balance of power in China's favor, as it moves steadily toward becoming the world's largest economy.

For highly indebted governments, low interest rates are critical to keep debt levels sustainable and ease pressure to restructure debt and recapitalize banks. The shift to a high sovereign-debt-yield equilibrium would make it impossible to achieve fiscal balance.

Money can't buy wins.

Money and one of its embodiments, social class, are both riveting and mysterious to children. And if we don't challenge today's stigma around class status, it will warp a new generation's experience of an even more important class - the kind in which they learn. And that's one thing we simply can't afford.

I am a free man. I don't need to earn money. But I need to love what I do.

One of the most important aspects that feed a thriving economy is successful businesses, so the more startups that take off, the better the financial picture is for everyone.