REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
July 11, 2010

'... Wall Street, sensing an imminent economic rebound,
is hiring again. Why is this annoying? Because, in
addition to hiring, the financial community is doing a
good deal of whining these days--about Obama
Administration policies that restrict the Madoff-style
casino gambling that got us into trouble in the first
place (but don't go far enough, IMHO). I guess I'm an
economic curmudgeon, but I'd be a lot happier if the
headline was: Green Energy Hiring Boom or Auto Industry
Rebounds Strongly. But what we may be looking at is a
continuation of the disease that forced the bailout in
the first place: a distorted economy, where too many of
the profits come from making deals and too few come
from making things.'

Joe Klein
Swampland
Time
July 11, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/23hcy9m

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/25elath
Crutch
Stuart Carlson

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
July 12, 2010

'Erskine Bowles the co-chair of President Obama's
Deficit Commission, and a director of the Wall Street
investment bank Morgan Stanley, claimed that the
current economic crisis (which is projected to add more
than $4 trillion to the national debt) was "largely
unforeseen." This is not true. Competent economists saw
the crisis as an inevitable outcome of the housing
bubble. It is remarkable that the deficit commission
seems to be relying exclusively on economists who could
not see this $8 trillion bubble, the collapse of which
wrecked the economy.

'The commission also does not appear to be considering
any measures that would challenge powerful interest
groups like the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance
industry, highly-paid medical specialists, or the Wall
Street banks. Rather than incur the wrath of these
powerful interest groups to rein in medical expenses or
reduce the rents earned by Wall Street bankers, the
commission seems intent on taking back Social Security
and Medicare benefits for ordinary workers. The
reporters covering the commission should be reporting
on the failure of the commission to follow its mandate
in this respect.'

Economist Dean Baker
Beat the Press
July 11, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/25guuey

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/24fugr4
GOP Plan
Jeff Danziger

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day
July 13, 2010

'School districts across the country are taking drastic
steps to cope with collapsing budgets: firing
personnel, increasing class sizes, cutting kindergarten
and summer-school programs and, in some cases, moving
to a four-day school week. The Associated Press, in a
demoralizing report, recently noted: "As the school
budget crisis deepens, administrators across the nation
have started to view school libraries as luxuries that
can be axed rather than places where kids learn to love
reading and do research."

'What a country. We'll do whatever it takes to make
sure the bankers keep living the high life and swilling
that Champagne while at the same time we're taking
books out of the hands of schoolchildren trying to get
an education. '

Columnist Bob Herbert
New York Times
July 13, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2c4npxw

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/23lgf36
Sacred Bull
Tony Auth - Philadelphia Inquirer

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
July 14, 2010

'I've lost everything and I don't know what will happen
to me.'

Deborah Coleman, 58, a former
manager at a telecommunications
firm, lost her unemployment
benefits in April and says
she has filed an  average of
30 job applications a day,
but remains jobless.

Reuters
July 14, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2b8pf7u

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2a6ahto
Future Dig
M. Wuerker - Politico
[click on image to enlarge]

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day
July 15, 2010

'The final bill passed by the Senate today and already
approved by the House of Representatives will improve
regulation in the financial sector. However, given the
severity of the economic crisis caused by past
regulatory failures, the public had the right to expect
much more extensive reform.'

Dean Baker Center for Economic
& Policy Research
July 14, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/2bl525k

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/24m5ur8
Obscenities
Tom Toles - Washington Post

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day
July 17, 2010

'With 96 closures nationwide so far this year, the pace
of bank failures far outstrips that of 2009, which had
been a brisk year for shutdowns. By this time last
year, regulators had closed 57 banks. The rate has
accelerated as banks' losses mounted on loans made for
commercial property and development.

'The number of bank failures is expected to peak this
year and be slightly higher than the 140 that failed in
2009.'

Associated Press
July 16, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/284sywn

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/2dgrknt
He Lives
Ben Sargent

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day
July 17, 2010

'With 96 closures nationwide so far this year, the pace
of bank failures far outstrips that of 2009, which had
been a brisk year for shutdowns. By this time last
year, regulators had closed 57 banks. The rate has
accelerated as banks' losses mounted on loans made for
commercial property and development.

'The number of bank failures is expected to peak this
year and be slightly higher than the 140 that failed in
2009.'

Associated Press
July 16, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/284sywn

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/25wh3cr
Nothing Approach
Ben Sargent

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