Good morning, I’d like to thank the University of Chicago for inviting me to speak today, and thank you Austan for that kind introduction.  Being back here reminds me, Austan, of soon after we first met.  You were working out of a cramped office with books and papers piled sky high.  Since then, your office moved to a pretty fancy address in Washington.  But now that you’re back in Chicago, the real question is, what does your office look like now?

In all seriousness, I met Austan when he was a valued advisor to then senator and candidate Barack Obama.  At the time, I was working on Hillary’s campaign.  And when his candidate became the Democratic nominee, Austan was exceedingly gracious in welcoming the other candidates’ advisors into the fold.  It turns out, we were better teammates than rivals.  It’s great to see you back in Chicago, Austan.

Lessons of 2008

Three years ago, the financial system failed, and the financial regulatory system failed as well.  We are still feeling the aftershocks of these twin failures.

There are many lessons to be learned from the crisis.  Foremost, when financial institutions fail, real people’s lives are affected.  More than eight million jobs were lost, and the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high.  Millions of Americans lost their homes.  Millions more live in homes that are worth less than their mortgages.  And millions of Americans continue struggling to make ends meet. 

Second, it is only with the backing of the government and taxpayers that many financial institutions survived the 2008 crisis.  We are seeing this situation all over again with the current debt crisis in Europe.

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