Quotes of the day

I'd rather get punched in the face 10 times than study for those [FINRA] tests again.--Wayne Chrebet

[A player lockout next season is a] near certainty. The magnitude of the loss would be at the very least about $160 million to $170 million per team-city.--DeMaurice Smith

The big elephant in the room is not Portugal but, of course, it’s Spain. There is not enough official money to bail out Spain if trouble occurs.--Nouriel Roubini

Many people seem truly astonished by my decision not to comply with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s request to wear a wiretap to record conversations with a client. I have even been asked, “Why not just agree to wear the wire to show that no wrongdoing had occurred?” Unfortunately, that requires assuming that I was asked nicely to cooperate. That was not the nature of the proposal I was offered. (And had I agreed, I have no doubt I would have been asked to record conversations with others as well.) A surprise visit by the F.B.I. to your home — especially when your wife and two young children are due to arrive from school at any moment — is a shocking, terrifying experience. It makes me wonder whether they deliberately chose this time of maximum vulnerability. F.B.I. agents are backed by the full force of the federal government, and the ones who arrived at my home made it abundantly clear that they believe I am guilty, and therefore so are all of my clients, and they threatened to arrest me on the spot. ... The S.E.C.’s proper role is to provide guidance and rules to the investment community on what is considered appropriate behavior. If the agency is doing its job, it will take note of untoward activities and issue a cease-and-desist order. But here, the rule-making appears to be decided by the Justice Department. My personal belief is that much of this activity is politically motivated, and will ultimately only delay the return of the confidence of Main Street and Wall Street in our country. Our economy won’t fully heal and return to solid growth so long as the political class maintains its vendetta against business interests in our country. This, along with my firm belief that my clients and I have done nothing wrong, is why I have chosen to take a stand. It’s about fighting for what I believe should be fair dealings between individual citizens and their government.--John Kinnucan