Quote

The failure of credit markets is one of the major reasons for underdevelopment.

The real danger with debt is what happens if lots of people decide, or are forced, to pay it off at the same time.

The unique danger today is the possibility that we may face longer-term stagnation as a consequence of relying too heavily on borrowed money.

We need banks and financiers and entrepreneurs to take risks because that's how economies grow over time.

Any investment bought via credit always runs the risk of margin calls and, eventually, liquidation.

The reality is, risk is variable. Those in the financial world know it.

If you lose control of your debt and deficit, you get massive cuts in things such as health and education. You get appalling insecurity, jobs lost, firms going overseas.

It is probably the case that some regulation of financing will make crises less likely, and I would say higher capital requirements are an almost fail-safe way to make banks safer. But there are a lot of other things that may not be doing that, and so we need to be careful about sort of, like, rushing to one conclusion or another.

Financial crises are an unfortunate but necessary consequence of modern capitalism.

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.