If we are really serious about preventing another crisis like the 2008 meltdown, we should simply ban complex financial instruments unless they can be unambiguously shown to benefit society in the long run.

In the long run, no nation can prosper unless the world prospers.

Democracy, despite its limitations, is in the end the only way to ensure that policies do not simply benefit the privileged few.

Many financial and industrial companies have been bailed out with the public's money, but very few of those who had run those companies have been punished for their failures. Yes, the top managers of those companies have lost their jobs - but with a fat pension and mostly with a handsome severance payment.

The economy is much bigger than the market. We will not be able to build a good economy - nor a good society - unless we look at the vast expanse beyond the market.

Leading economists have shown that by shrinking Texas, we can actually create more income for Texas in the long run.