Some highlights from this morning's hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: Goldman Sachs CEO Loyd Blankfein's written testimony, in which he said, "After the shocks of recent months and the associated economic pain, there is a natural and appropriate desire for wholesale reform. We should resist a response, however, that is solely designed around protecting us from the 100-year storm. Taking risk completely out of the system will be at the cost of economic growth. We know from economic history that innovation – and the new industries and new jobs that result from it -- require risk taking. Similarly, if we abandon, as opposed to regulate, market mechanisms created decades ago, such as derivatives, we may end up constraining access to capital and the efficient hedging and distribution of risk."
JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO James Dimon: "If you do everything right in business, you are going to make mistakes."
Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack: "I give high marks to our regulator," the Federal Reserve. He said he didn't want to call them "intrusive," but said they had been "diligent."
More from Mr. Blankfein, commenting on firms that allowed $50 billion in toxic assets to accumulate on their balance sheets: "I think it was a failure of competence rather than incentives."
