“Capitalism will always survive in the United
States as long as the government is willing to use socialism to bail it
out." ~ Nathra Nader, Ralph Nader's father
It is leaked that President
Bush solemnly
opined, “If money isn’t
loosened up, this sucker could go down.”
"EMBARRASSING
…” ~ That's the word our Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson used to describe how he felt begging Congress for money to bail out
America. Around him were seated our Federal Reserve Chairman and our Securities
& Exchange Commission Chairman.
“The losses incurred by Bear Stearns and other
large broker-dealers were not caused by “rumors” or a “crisis
of confidence,” but rather by inadequate net capital and the lack of
constraints on the incurring of debt.” ~ Lee Pickard, former Director, SEC Trading and Markets
Division
“Changes
are going to have to be made'' to the global financial system." ~ Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chair, 1979-87
“…
change is not a destination … just as hope is not a strategy” ~
Rudy Giuliani’s
remarks at the 2008 Republican Party’s National Convention
“This
bright new system, this practice in the United States, this practice in the
United Kingdom and elsewhere, has broken down. Growth in the economy in this
decade will be the slowest of any decade since the Great Depression, right in
the middle of all this financial innovation. It is the most complicated
financial crisis I have ever experienced, and I have experienced a few ... “
~ Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve Chair, 1979-87
“You
always find out who's been swimming naked when the tide goes out. We found out
that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach," ~ Warren Buffett, who in March was called the world's richest
person by Forbes magazine
“In a
bear market, everyone loses, the winner is the one who loses the least.” ~ Richard Russell
"If they
are too big to fail, make them smaller," ~ George Shultz, former Nixon Treasury Secretary
"The
worst is yet to come in the US.” ~ Kenneth Rogoff, former Chief Economist at the International
Monetary Fund
"The
system is completely broken. It's amazing that the system ever worked at
all." ~
Marc L. Weinberg, Acting Executive Director
and General Counsel, Appraisal Subcommittee
“The world breaks everyone and
afterward many are stronger at the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway, (1898-1961) American writer
”We
thrive in markets that are overdeveloped. And overdeveloped markets always have
people that are struggling or underperforming. We don't really care, because
we're not the Chamber of Commerce. But the more people there are in the market,
the better it is for us, because we take the top end of that business... I
would prefer that our neighbors be successful-- but their success is not
entirely relevant to our own performance.” ~ Steve Wynn, Chairman,
CEO, Wynn Resorts Ltd. (Wynn Resorts Ltd. Q2'08 Conference Call Transcript in
Seeking Alpha, July 24th)
“He
said we couldn’t afford to say no to anyone...” ~ David
A. Andrukonis, Freddie Mac’s former chief risk officer, about
Freddie's CEO, Richard F. Syron
“Adversity
is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being
especially free of admirers then.” ~ Samuel Johnson,
British author
"The
only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they
have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly
payments." ~ Mad Magazine
Great Moments
in Prophecy: "I
don't want to be too sophisticated here, but 2007 is going to suck, all 12
months of the calendar year." ~ Donald Tomnitz, CEO
of the home builder D.R. Horton
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