Christina Romer Quotes

Banks are slowly but surely lending again, and never again will taxpayers foot the bill for Wall Street's excesses. In case we forgot, that was the change we believed in. That was the change we fought for. That was the change President Obama delivered.

It's time to pull the bandage off America's foreclosure problem. The economy is ready to emerge from its recent dark period, but to make it happen soon we need to speed the resolution of millions of troubled home loans. Six years have passed since the crisis began, yet instead of accelerating, foreclosures have slowed.

To get our economy back on track and keep it functioning properly without the problems of our financial institutions, we need reasonable regulations that will protect Main Street while at the same time allow Wall Street to do what it does best - make money for American investors.

Fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in isolation, without looking at the big picture, would be short-sighted.

I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 - before the big crash that we had - I basically said, 'Cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors.'

We need to change how we run banks. We need to change the culture. If we get it right, we can have a huge impact.

No. It is not acceptable that the 6 largest financial institutions in this country have assets of almost 10 trillion dollars, and issue half of the mortgages and two-thirds of the credit cards. That is too much wealth and power in the hands of a few. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today he'd tell us to 'break them up.' And he'd be right. These huge banks must be broken up.

If they are too big to fail, make them smaller.

What began as a subprime lending problem has spread to other, less risky mortgages and contributed to excess home inventories that have pushed down home prices for responsible homeowners.

Should we think about separating the investment banks from the commercial banks, a new Glass-Steagall? I would be really excited to see that. I think it would be great for the economy.

There are elements of Dodd-Frank that clearly need to be curtailed.

To enable large U.S. banks to support their clients better, the Volcker rule should be clarified.

The revival of the U.S. financial system after the crash of 2008 is arguably the Obama administration's biggest domestic policy success.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd break up the banking system.

My fantasy is to break up the big banks. I wish we would end 'too big to fail' in our banking system.

Congressman Watt has a long history of advocating against predatory lending and the mortgage practices that caused millions of families to lose their homes.

I'll be very clear about this: I'm not a fan of getting rid of Dodd-Frank.

For many, the loan modification process has been a giant sham.

I liked the so-called Volcker Rule. I would have separated investment banking and commercial, deposit banking, as we did under the Glass-Steagal Act. I would have brought back Glass-Steagal.

I don't support going back to Glass-Steagall as is.

I think that if you're going after large banks and large financial companies to try to make sure people are being treated fairly, you're going to make some enemies, and you're going to make people uncomfortable.

Certainly, some of the anti-bank rhetoric has shifted a little bit, but on either side of the aisle, there seems to be different tacts. On one side of the aisle, you see a proposed scaling back of Dodd-Frank. On the other, a proposed reinstatement of Glass-Steagall.

We survived for hundreds of years under the old banking structure. You'd have clearing banks, then merchant banks doing the racy stuff, and then building societies where you'd join a waiting list for a mortgage. But then banks started buying stockbrokers, doing mortgages, and you ended up with these big banking groups doing everything.

Taxing financial markets, promoting research and development, and mobilising investments: that means learning our lessons from the financial market crisis and changing our focus.

The truth is that the banks that are really hurting under Dodd-Frank, really getting no relief, are the community banks.