Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Solid...Remember?

President Bush: "We’re in the midst of a serious financial crisis. Our entire economy is in danger. America could slip into a financial panic."

Treasury Secretary Henry A. Paulson (the administration’s point person on the "rescue" effort): "The American people are angry about executive compensation, and rightfully so. We must find a way to address this in the legislation."

Rep. Joe Barton, R–Texas "Just because God created the world in seven days doesn’t mean we have to pass this bill in seven days."

Rep Gene Taylor, D–Miss. Where have I heard this before? The Iraqis have weapons of mass destruction, and they’re ready to use them. I’m in no rush to do this."

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D–Conn. Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee "It’s still possible to meet the deadline. But this is of such import, if it takes a little longer to get it right, then so be it. I’m all for moving as quickly as we can, but I’m far more interested in getting it right."

Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi "We’re moving forward. I think we are making some progress."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto (Note: Regarding Paulson echoing of the administration’s objections to limits on executive compensation, saying limits would discourage "successful" firms from participating in the bailout) "These are not all weak or troubled firms that own mortgage-backed securities. They were not necessarily irresponsible players, and so you have to be careful about how you deal with them."

Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Shalom Bernanke "I’m a college professor. I never worked on Wall Street. My interest is solely for the strength and recovery of the U.S. economy. I believe if the credit markets are not functioning, that jobs will be lost; the unemployment rate will rise; more houses will be foreclosed upon; GDP will contract; that the economy will just not be able to recover in a normal, healthy way, no matter what other policies are taken."

Barney Frank, D–Mass., Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee "It would be a grave mistake to say that we’re going to buy up the bad debt that results from the bad decisions of these people and then allow them to get millions of dollars on the way out the door. The American people don’t want that to happen, and it shouldn’t happen."

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