Today, I shall concentrate my remarks on the current debate in Congress and elsewhere on how best to accomplish financial reform. This subject has been a recurring theme in Federal Reserve comments, speeches, and testimonies during the first part of 1997 and, I suspect, the subject will continue to engage us for some months ahead.
By the way, the “Italian Journey” can also be found in my personal library. Several days ago marked the anniversary of a milestone event on this journey: 235 years ago, in late October 1786, Goethe had been on his travels for almost two months when he laid eyes on Rome for the first time.