Quotes of the day

We refused to touch credit default swaps. It would be like buying insurance on the Titanic from someone on the Titanic.--Nassim Taleb

It is all very entertaining, but at the end of the day, an organized derivatives exchange would not have prevented the crisis. If anything, it would have facilitated the use of derivatives to securitize more mortgages, and securitization was the main cause of the crisis. Counterparty risk in derivatives was simply not the main issue here.--Arnold Kling

Mahoney, according to ABC News, ran for Congress in 2006 promising "a world that is safer, more moral." His "campaign ads featured a picture of him with his wife, Terry, with the line, 'Restoring America's Values Begins at Home.' " And of course the Democrats have always been the party of traditional family values. Think Barack Obama, his lovely wife and adorable daughters. Or Hillary Clinton standing by her man. Or John Edwards valiantly protecting his ailing wife. Well, OK, maybe those last two examples aren't the very best ones we could come up with. Even so, we really thought the Democrats were going to be different!--James Taranto

Economists have all been to school, so they think they know everything about education. And they’ve all been to the doctor, so they think they know everything about health. And now they’ve all been to the therapist, so they think they know everything about mental health.--Don Bundy