I don't think you're going to have one bank. Big companies aren't going to give us all their business. So they can pick and choose - by product, by country, whatever. We have major competition across every product in every place we operate.
You can design a mortgage system that is different without a Fannie and Freddie, but there are principles you have to have, to have a good system.
After the tsunami in Japan, we were open for business. In fact, I flew there 10 days after the tsunami to show our support for the Japanese people.
The country [India] is doing far better.
I am still a Democrat. The main reason is because I don't like the Republican stance on some social values. Not that I disagree with all of them. I just don't think they have a right to impose it upon other people. I've been public about that.
The goal of what Japan's central bank is doing is to create growth. If it actually creates growth, in the long run, it will lead to appreciation.
It can take a long time to get the rules in place that are conducive to growing, sometimes.
We can take our Japanese clients around the world. We can take them to Brazil, Europe, anywhere. And we also take companies from around the world into Japan.
We did not anticipate the political fallout from it. We definitely didn't need it and we paid it back the first day we were allowed to.
I believe it's a good thing that people say, "Can we find a way to live together in peace?" And they did, for the most part.
Now the Japanese companies are more focused on that. To have two independent directors - I think it's good to have outside people look at you and think of what you could be doing better. Those are voluntary, but most of the companies told me they're going to do it. And I think it's good for them to say our returns on equity, for example, should be higher. Also, I think some could be more ambitious.
I do think there will be more Japanese companies expanding out of Japan, and there will be more cross-border flow from Japan.
Because of that [Brexit], you're going to have slow growth and, unfortunately, while there may not be huge volatility, there will be volatility.
Part of [Japanese companies] growing and expanding around the world is ... going to help the Japanese keep their lifestyles [despite Japan's] demographics, as a declining population, and [to] make it more conducive to women to go to work, I think, is a plus.
Part of the reason some Japanese companies have underperformed financially was corporate governance and board structures.
I think normalization is a good thing.
I think if we had another set of policies for - not the crisis years, but after that, that we might be growing faster. But we didn't. And some of that was Republicans' [fault], by the way.
I completely agree with the concept that American citizens shouldn't expect that a failure of a bank would cost them money, or that it would hurt the economy.
If you look at Detroit, that mayor, it's been a train wreck for 40 years, the population has gone from 2 million to 700,000. This Mayor comes in, and he talked about streetlights, sanitation, jobs, policing, schools, affordable housing. He's doing it all, and it's growing for the first time in 30 years. Literally, one man. But that one man couldn't do it without business. And business couldn't have done it without a political environment where they wanted to improve things. If you had an antibusiness environment there, it would still be down there.
We've seen the volatility at dollar-yen, U.S. Treasurys, JGBs (Japanese government bonds), German bunds.
You would expect to see that first in high-yield [debt], but it was in the most liquid thing in the world. So that, I think - it's a little bit of a warning that we've got to be prepared and just be careful.
I know the President [Barack Obama]. I like him and respect him. That does not mean I agree with all of our government's policies, whether they come from Democrats or Republicans.
I think immigration has been one of the vital things about the growth of America. I'm the product of grandparents who all immigrated from Greece. I hope eventually we have proper immigration.
I'm a really big believer - this is not a statement about President [Barack] Obama, but whoever is president - that good policy is really important.
The economic union - creating a big common market, like the United States, so that you can compete across borders. There are common rules, regulations, and simplification, and that is still a good reason, too. When they put their monetary union together, that created a rigidity that made it hard for currency fluctuations. They don't really have a solution to that.
