I think there's a lot of merit in an international economy and global markets, but they're not sufficient because markets don't look after social needs.

We in the United States are very often - since we are a democracy and we have national interests, we've often made the mistake that a democracy has to adopt America's interests, and that is a contradiction because a democracy basically is people deciding what their interests are.

The securitisation of mortgages added a new dimension of systemic risk. Financial engineers claimed they were reducing risks through geographic diversification: in fact they were increasing them by creating an agency problem. The agents were more interested in maximising fee income than in protecting the interests of bondholders. That is the verity that was ignored by regulators and market participants alike.

Every bubble has two components: something - some real trend, and a misconception about that trend.

If the bubbles contain a misconception, as they always do, then it can't be maintained forever.

Short term volatility is greatest at turning points and diminishes as a trend becomes established

The dark comes before dawn. The financial markets are under great pressure because of the lack of leadership during the transition period.