Sometimes countries have to go through periods of crises and then rediscover why it's important to be bipartisan and compromise and if you haven't had a deep crisis for a while, you feel like you have the luxury of going on your own way.

Writing is a lot like making soup. My subconscious cooks the idea, but I have to sit down at the computer to pour it out.

The rich believe that they're different and that it is their right to pay a much lower tax rate. The response that you see from people on Wall Street, their dismissal and their almost contempt for the concerns about their culpability in the financial crisis, about the income inequality, shows that they are completely out of touch.