For regulators, larger, diversified institutions may be more stable than investment banks but they pose an even greater systemic risk.

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The answer may be that the underlying forces driving our economic growth are more stable than the headlines suggest.

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Astronomers think the planets may have yet to reach their final stable orbits, so more violence could be in store.

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While the prices they will have to pay may be higher than in 2008 when the U.S. auto industry was in free fall, a more stable industry will enable Chinese companies to overcome their natural fear of venturing abroad.

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While recent changes in the financial system have made it more stable most of the time, they may also have increased the possibility that it will be excessively unstable in really bad times, as well as increasing the chances that really bad times will occur.

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