It seems superfluous to constrain trading in some of the newer derivatives and other innovative financial contracts of the past decade. The worst have failed; investors no longer fund them and are not likely to in the future.

The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War.

How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values?

If I say something which you understand fully in this regard, I probably made a mistake.

Anything that we can do to raise personal savings is very much in the interest of this country.

If you think you understand what I am saying you do not understand what I am saying.

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.