The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.
Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today's problems are a result of yesterday's solutions.
The politicians are all useless individuals. Nobody is reducing the problems in the U.S. or Europe, just putting on a Band-Aid and postponing the problems endlessly.
Patched-up diplomatic solutions designed to answer the needs of the moment rarely last, and as they unravel they can actually make things worse.
Doing the simple thing first doesn't mean your solution will work forever.
Deciding to commit yourself to long term results rather than short term fixes is as important as any decision you'll make in your lifetime.
Whether it's mending a failing company, fighting corruption, tackling disease, or rebuilding a marriage, the hardest problems defy just-add-water remedies. Indeed, slapping on a Band-Aid when surgery is needed usually just makes things worse.
The trouble with quick and dirty is that dirty remains long after quick has been forgotten.
Britain can choose, as others are, short term fixes and more stimulus. Or we can lead the world with long-term solutions to long-term problems.
The actions taken by central banks and other authorities to stabilize a panic in the short run can work against stability in the long run if investors and firms infer from those actions that they will never bear the full consequences of excessive risk-taking.
I don't do fad things or diets - they don't work.
If we could, we'd change a lot of things. But the only thing that's going to really change things is money and time. And time might just make it worse, too.
In trying to scramble out of a hole, it sometimes digs it deeper.
The Obama administration's attempted short-term fixes, even with unprecedented monetary easing by the Federal Reserve, produced average GDP growth of just 2.2% over the past three years, and the consensus outlook appears no better for the year ahead.
Why pay $100 on a therapy session when you can spend $25 on a cigar? Whatever it is will come back; so what, smoke another one.
All politicians know that every 'temporary' political initiative promised as a short-term poultice stays on the books forever.
