I'd have liked to have been another Faulkner, of course.
From the beginning of time, we've had financial crises. People always blame the banks and for good reason. When you look for the root causes, they're almost always failed government policies.
No matter how the financial system is set up, no matter what the economic system is, as long as you have people, you're going to have financial crises; you're going to have bubbles that manifest themselves in the financial system.
One of the most constant aspects of American life is change - and nowhere is it more evident than in our financial markets.
The financial security of all Americans - their retirement savings, their home values, their ability to borrow for college, and opportunities for more and higher-paying jobs - depends on our ability to restore our financial institutions to sound footing.
I prefer to work at the policy level, on trying to fix flawed government policies.
I believe that the root cause of every financial crisis, the root cause, is flawed government policies.
I don't know anyone that says, 'Boy, I had a great career, and I'm happy because I screwed up my life outside of my career, my family life.' There's no one that feels that way.
Moral hazard is something I don't take lightly.
When the financial system works as it should, money and capital flow to and from households and businesses to pay for home loans, school loans, and investments to create jobs.
We need a new tax system. We need entitlement reform. We need immigration reform. These are not easy things. But it is going to take our political system working better.
Complexity and interconnectedness matter as much as size in assessing risk in banking.
When you look at territorial disputes, there are good arguments on any sides. I think it's important that we don't take sides on legitimacy.
In the past, if a homeowner with a mortgage had a problem making the payment, often he'd get together with a lender and strike a deal, because foreclosures are very expensive to the lender and obviously not good for the homeowner and the community.
I grew up on a farm - I know the smell of horse manure. It does smell better than pig manure.
What began as a subprime lending problem has spread to other, less risky mortgages and contributed to excess home inventories that have pushed down home prices for responsible homeowners.
It is important that China stop its over-reliance on municipal debt to finance infrastructure. I take comfort in the fact that China's leaders understand this.
Too often, we restrict trade that would create U.S. jobs and is in our national interest.
My dad was somewhat of a naturalist and used to teach us about different birds and trees. So did a fifth grade teacher who made a lasting impact on me; to this day, I remember his lessons about counting the needles on pine trees, seeing if they are twisted or straight, and about checking the tips of oak leaves to see if they are pointed or lobed.
When our markets work, people throughout our economy benefit - Americans seeking to buy a car or buy a home, families borrowing to pay for college, innovators borrowing on the strength of a good idea for a new product or technology, and businesses financing investments that create new jobs.
