A New York Times columnist David Leonhardt, in commenting on the vanishing of trust in the banking system, wrote: “Banks now look at longtime customers and think of that old refrain from a failed marriage: I feel like I don’t even know you.” Much has been written in the economics literature about the central role of the financial and banking system in the economy.
Before I begin, I will note that my colleague, Jay Powell, was supposed to be your speaker today. However, as you can likely surmise, he had to attend to other matters and asked me to speak in his place.