I've always argued that this country has benefited immensely from the fact that we draw people from all over the world.

Any informed borrower is simply less vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.

I have one other issue I'd like to throw on the table. I hesitate to do it, but let me tell you some of the issues that are involved here. If we are dealing with psychology, then the thermometers one uses to measure it have an effect. I was raising the question on the side with Governor Mullins of what would happen if the Treasury sold a little gold in this market. There's an interesting question here because if the gold price broke in that context, the thermometer would not be just a measuring tool. It would basically affect the underlying psychology.

To succeed, you will soon learn, as I did, the importance of a solid foundation in the basics of education - literacy, both verbal and numerical, and communication skills.

But rules cannot substitute for character.

We will have more crises and none of them will look like this because no two crises have anything in common except human nature.