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The Fed contributed to the financial crisis, keeping interest rates too low for too long. I give them credit for responding and stabilizing the economy and the financial sector during the crisis. But then they tried to do too much with quantitative easing that went on forever, just dramatically exploding their balance sheets.

Spending time at the Federal Reserve was a good learning opportunity for me. It helped me to understand economic philosophies and polices that I had not previously known about.

I thank my personal staff for their restless sacrifice for my work.

The people gave me the responsibility of building the future of this nation. And I did it with honor.

I went to the bank and proposed that they lend money to the poor people. The bankers almost fell over.

The most valuable lesson I learned in dealing with the ups and downs was to invest in my employees - to do all I could for them when the times were good.

I was fortunate, I guess, to be part of some good fiscal discipline in the Bush administration. The budget I put forward was a balanced budget.

I saw the prospect of serving as labor secretary as a wonderful opportunity to further the policies that I have been fighting for my whole life, and I had to seize it.

They were very generous with me. Everybody was willing to talk about their particular accident, what they had to deal with and how they got back in touch with their competitors' spirit.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve President Obama and the country and proud of the progress we've made toward rebuilding trust in our financial system and moving our economy closer to recovery. It was a privilege to work with such a fine group of people at the White House and across the administration.