* “These are delicate times, and we take a positive role.”–Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s of China in explaining that his country has been buying Spanish, Portuguese and Greek bonds to help stabilize these Chinese export markets.
* “Systemic confidence is essential in a financial crisis. Teaching investors a lesson is a wish, not a policy. U.S. policymakers were applauded for about 12 hours for their willingness to let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt. The shattering consequences that had on confidence are still being felt.”–Lawrence Summers, for Treasury Secretary and past president of Harvard University.
* “The polarization of fiscal policy is one of the worst legacies to come out of the recession. Before the crisis, there was agreement that what you do when you run out of monetary tools is fiscal stimulus. Suddenly, it’s like we’re back in the 1930s.”–Christina Romer, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers in Obama Administration.
* “A moderate former liberal … who would never be elected today, in my opinion.”–Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., R-Cal, in reference to Ronald Reagan.
* “Obama is not the new FDR, but the new Gorbachev.”–Richard Miniter, Forbes magazine.
* “The real (economic) culprit has been hiding in plain sight. We are living through a tremendous bust. It isn’t simply a housing bust. It’s a fizzling of the great consumer bubble that was decades in the making.”–David Leonhardt, New York Times.
* “Here’s what’s certain: as she (Michelle Bachmann) pursues the nomination, the Republican establishment won’t line up behind her, because they don’t think she has a prayer of broadening her ultraconservative base enough to woo swing voters and topple President Obama. And toppling is what they’re all about.”–Frank Bruni, New York Times.
* “Obviously hamstrung and far, far below the paper’s true capacity.”–Columbia Journalism Review’s Dean Starkman on the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the News of the World’s demise and ongoing scandal.
* “(Rupert) Murdoch’s media outlets must shill for his business interests. With the News of the World scandal, the (Wall Street) Journal has now shown itself willing to do that too.”–Joe Nocera, New York Times.
* “We trust that readers can see through the commercial and ideological motives of our competitor critics. The Schadenfreude is so thick you can’t cut it with a chain saw. Especially redolent are lectures about journalistic standards from publications that give Julian Assange and WikiLeaks their moral imprimatur. They want their readers to believe, based on no evidence, that the tabloid excesses of one publication somehow tarnish thousands of other News Corp. journalists across the world.”–Wall Street Journal editorial.
* “The new poor are the former middle class. But we can’t get this president or any leaders to say the words ‘poor’ or ‘poverty,’ much less do anything about it.”–Travis Smiley, PBS talk show host and black activist.
* “The current state of political affairs in Florida has fueled apprehension in Republican circles. Gov. Scott has the lowest approval ratings of any Florida governor since Charley Johns in the 1950s and Claude Kirk in the 1960s. Neither Johns nor Kirk won another statewide office after their term as governor.”–David R. Colburn, director of the Askew Institute at the University of Florida.
* “Pinellas County jurors NOT welcome!!!”–A sign at Skyline Chili in Clearwater.
* “It’s hard to combat the national media’s depiction of our stadium. Our situation has become a distraction. It is affecting the clubhouse, and it spills over onto the field of play. It damages the national reputation of St. Pete and Tampa Bay, and it harms the Rays’ brand. Clearly, something needs to be done.”–Tampa Bay Rays President Matt Silverman.
* “I will say that it took him a little longer than nine innings, but he got it done.”–University of Tampa Associate Professor of Education Edward Cloutier on the graduation of former New York Yankee Tino Martinez, who left UT for pro baseball in 1988.