Quotes of the day

Not a single House Republican voted in favor of the stimulus bill. It may well be the third inning of nine -- this is a Robert Gibbs analogy -- but it's Democrats who are crowding the plate--Marc Ambinder

... simply removing "toxic" assets from bank balance sheets will not directly cause banks to increase lending. Lending standards have tightened dramatically, and there is an unavoidable restructuring of risk taking place. Such causes money to come out of the system and lending to contract, with or without this "bad bank" structure. Lower asset bases, higher credit losses, and bloated expense structures will continue to pressure banks' earnings power and capital creation.--Meredith Whitney

Actors who have tried to play Churchill and MacArthur have failed abysmally because each of those men was a great actor playing himself.--William Manchester