Let me now turn to the question of why restructuring is required. You would agree that it is a societal convention to attempt to assist anyone in distress. Similarly, restructuring is a tool to lend a hand of assistance to borrowers who are temporarily in distress, in particular, where the distress is caused by circumstances beyond the control of the borrower.
For all of these reasons, and for others that I do not have time to discuss, I would argue that the U.S. banking structure has generally remained competitive, and in some cases has become more competitive, over the recent period of intense merger activity and institutional and legislative change.