Important sentences

"..a VAT is neither blessed nor evil. It is a tool. We can use it to advance a larger government, a more efficient tax system or some combination of the two."

—Greg Mankiw in the Times.

"...America's not very good at dealing with slow-moving crises, even with slow-moving solutions. We're much better at waiting until a crisis happens, acting quickly, and then putting together commissions to find out why nobody saw it coming."

—Derek Thompson, Atlantic Business.