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the week in quotes


WALK SOFTLY AND WEAR A BIG BOOT

"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."

- In an interview on NBC, U.S. President Barack Obama defends his approach to the BP oil spill disaster, which some critics say has been too detached and unemotional.

THANKS FOR ALMOST ANSWERING THE QUESTION

"We have to take care of our Gulf Coast stakeholders. We have to take care of our investors. We have to take care of our employees, our retirees. We're going to take care of all of our stakeholders."

- BP CEO Tony Hayward responds to a BBC interviewer's question about whether the company will cave to U.S. political pressure to suspend its dividend payments.

WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU, SCAM

"At the heart of the great banking orgy, traders are only given the same consideration as any street prostitute: A quick thank you for a good day's takings."

- Rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel, whose trial in a €5-billion fraud scandal at Société Générale SA began this week in Paris, explains in his new memoir the nature of his work.

CANCEL THOSE OYSTERS AND CALL MY BROKER

"I want my future husband to be diligent about money. Playboys are no good. Men who hold JGBs are popular with women!!"

- Text of a magazine ad from the Japanese Finance Ministry, promoting sales of its new three-year Japanese government bond (JGB) designed for retail investors. (The current yield on three-year JGBs is 0.18 per cent.)

TITANIC II: THAT SINKING FEELING, AGAIN

"The collapse of the financial system as we know it is real, and the crisis is far from over. Indeed, we have just entered Act II of the drama."

- Billionaire investor George Soros warns that Europe's sovereign debt troubles - and extension of the 2008 credit crisis - could push the world back into recession.

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