*  *  *  I am pleased to lead off what promises to be a very interesting conference. As I thought about the conference title - "Charting a Course for the Future" - it struck me that, since one can never really know what the future will bring, charting specific paths to preconceived destinations is of limited value.
It is not easy to imagine the cumulative cascading of debt instruments seeking safety in a crisis when assets are heavily funded with equity.