I was a fairly good amateur musician, and I was an average professional. But the one thing I saw was that the big band business was fading.

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

I'm a better economist than I was a sax player.

Look, I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money. And the problem that we've gotten into in recent years is spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous. And my view is I don't think we can play subtle policy here.

We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami. Central banks and governments are being required to take unprecedented measures. Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity are in a state of shocked disbelief.

Indeed, better risk management may be the only truly necessary element of success in banking.

The more flexible an economy, the greater its ability to self-correct in response to inevitable, often unanticipated, disturbances and thus to contain the size and consequences of cyclical imbalances.