All taxes are a drag on economic growth. It's only a question of degree.

We may be in a rapidly evolving international financial system with all the bells and whistles of the so-called new economy. But the old-economy rules of prudence are as formidable as ever. We violate them at our own peril.

Now, I only play very occasionally, and in fact, more piano than clarinet or sax.

...our market system depends critically on trust-trust in the word of our colleagues and trust in the word of those with whom we do business.

Corruption, embezzlement, fraud, these are all characteristics which exist everywhere. It is regrettably the way human nature functions, whether we like it or not. What successful economies do is keep it to a minimum. No one has ever eliminated any of that stuff.

History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums.

I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.