*  *  *  In choosing the topic for this year's symposium – maintaining stability in a changing financial system – the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City staff is, once again, right on target.
Although we have seen improved functioning in some markets, the financial storm that reached gale force some weeks before our last meeting here in Jackson Hole has not yet subsided, and its effects on the broader economy are becoming apparent in the form of softening economic activity and rising unemployment.