Banks Are Weaker, We Are Buoyed

Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner: “I don't think the financial system is reverting to past practice, and we won't let that happen. The big banks are running with much less leverage now, much more conservative liquidity cushions, there's been a significant shrinking of their balance sheets, getting rid of bad assets and cleaning up. And the weakest parts of the system don't exist anymore. The consequence of achieving stability is that people can raise money, can raise equity, can borrow more easily at lower rates, that these markets have liquidity again. The fact that the core parts of the U.S. financial system look like they're profitable is overwhelmingly good.”