Even though some down payments are borrowed, it would take a large, and historically most unusual, fall in home prices to wipe out a significant part of home equity. Many of those who purchased their residence more than a year ago have equity buffers in their homes adequate to withstand any price decline other than a very deep one.

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

We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power.

You can't have the capitalist system if an increasing number of people think it is unjust.

The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions... Derivatives have permitted the unbundling of financial risks.

Developing protectionism regarding trade and our reluctance to place fiscal policy on a more sustainable path are threatening what may well be our most valued policy asset: the increased flexibility of our economy, which has fostered our extraordinary resilience to shocks.

The guiding purpose of the government regulator is to prevent rather than to create something.