I speak to lots of people around the world, and no one would tell you that 25 basis points will make a difference to them.

When you walk into a store and you want to buy something, you give them cash and they sell it to you. But very often, you walk into our "store" and you want something - a credit card, maybe, or a loan - and very often the answer is "No," even if you're a large corporation.

It takes 10 years to get all the permits to build a bridge today. Ten years? What happened to the good old can-do America? Where is "We get it done, we work together"? We've become this bureaucratic, stifling environment. I'm not talking about violating environmental things - I'm talking about building a bridge, getting things going, getting people to work together.

People thought they were going to make a lot of money. And then at one point, it got too hot, and the government wanted to knock it down. Trying to get it up and then knock it down, both were a mistake. And part of the reason, some people think, is that they wanted to equitize some of their companies. A healthy stock market helps equitize companies and reduce the country's debt burden.

It's hard in all countries. Democracy is hard, but it's better than the alternatives.

I think if we had another set of policies for - not the crisis years, but after that, that we might be growing faster. But we didn't. And some of that was Republicans' [fault], by the way.

A democracy is a compromise by its nature. It's not a dictatorship.