Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens (republican)

"I've not been convicted yet"

"There's not a black mark by my name yet, until the appeal is over and I am finally convicted, if that happens"

New York State Governor David Paterson (democrat)

"States have already reprogrammed and reprioritized to a point where there is simply nothing left in the budget for the current fiscal year"

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

"As economic activity rises, as tax revenues recover, then you would want borrowing to be a lower share of our national income. But the responsible course at the moment is to use the investments that are necessary, and to continue them, and to help people through very difficult times"

Former Fed Chief Allen Greenspan (the oracle)

"Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief"

"The consequent surge in global demand for U.S. subprime securities by banks, hedge and pension funds supported by unrealistically positive rating designations by credit agencies was, in my judgment, the core of the problem"

Former Standard & Poor's Residential Mortgage Ratings Director Frank Raiter

"by 2001 the stress for profits, and the desire to keep expenses low prevented us from, in fact, developing and implementing the appropriate methodology to keep track of the new products. As a result, we didn't have the data going forward in 2004 & 5, to really track what was happening with the sub-prime products and some of the new alternative payment type products, and we did not, therefore, have the ability to forecast when they started to go awry."

Former Moody's Credit Policy Director Jerome Fons

"regulators must drop restrictions on unsolicited ratings"

"the analysts that I interacted with took their responsibility seriously and demonstrated high moral character"

Representative Tom Davis (republican)

"this is too important to allow usual partisan politics to play a role, and i think this is our financial 9/11"

Congressman Darrell Issa (republican)

"but this blue ribbon panel for this Commission [to Investigate Financial Market Problems] will be different than the 9/11 Commission"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy

"It is not possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly identified economic government. We cannot go on like this."

G W Bush

"I know that if we had not acted, it would have affected the American people directly"

Warren Buffet (oracle of omaha)

"These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records five, 10 and 20 years from now."

Wayne Abernathy American Bankers Association Financial Institutions Director

"banks are already very well capitalized, 95% of all the banks in the country have the highest level of capital that the regulators require"

"a loan is an asset"

G W Bush

"we are having success in Iraq"

"we are implementing a strategy in the provinces which is effective"

G W Bush

"but these efforts are designed to directly benefit the American people by stabilizing our overall financial system and helping our economy recover"

"but the American people can have confidence about our long-term economic future"

"we have a strategy that is broad, that is flexible, and that is aimed at the root cause of our problem"

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

"as Americans well know, the challenges evident in the financial markets and in the economy are large and complex"

"we will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system and thereby restoring prosperity to our economy"

"as in all past crises, at the root of the problem is a loss of confidence by investors and the public in the strength of key financial institutions and markets"

"Americans can be confident that every resource is being brought to bear"

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

"a lack of confidence [in our economy] that must be conquered because it poses an enormous threat to our economy"

"today we are taking decisive actions to protect the US economy"

"we have taken this step for the good of the US economy"

"we are acting with unprecedented speed, taking unprecedented measures, that we never thought would be necessary, but they are necessary to get our economy back and on an even keel and secure the confidence of the future of our markets, our economy and the economic well-being of all Americans."

Representative Timothy Mahoney (democrat)

"i have not violated my oath of office, nor have i broken any laws"

"i take full responsibility for my actions"

"i am confident that when all the facts come to light, i will be completely vindicated"

John McCain

"we face many enemies in this dangerous world and they're waiting to see if our current troubles will permanently weaken us"

"i have a plan to rebuild the retirement savings of every worker"

"i'm gonna make government live on a budget just like you do"

"i will veto every single pork barrel bill Congress passes"

"i'll bring down skyrocketing costs of healthcare with competition and choice to lower your premiums, make it more available to more Americans"

"i'll open new markets to goods made in America and make sure our trade is free and fair"

"i know my history lessons & i sure won't make the mistakes that Senator Obama will"

"we will create millions of new jobs"

Barack Obama

"we'll make the tax code fair. i'll bring down the cost of healthcare for families and businesses by investing in preventive care and new technology"

"we'll ensure every child can compete in the global economy by recruiting an army of new teachers"

"we are gonna create 5 million new high wage jobs by investing in the renewable sources of energy that will eliminate the oil we currently import from the middle east in ten years"

"by temporarily eliminating fees for borrowers & lenders, we can unlock the credit that small firms need to pay their workers and keep their doors open"

Former President Bill Clinton (bubba)

"I am profoundly grateful to all of you who helped me to serve and who supported her. More than you will ever know."
"this is not just about politics"
"finally, i want to say that i expect to spend the rest of my natural life trying to show people how grateful i am, who supported Hillary in her long quest this last year"
"the answer is Barack Obama and thats why HIllary is here and thats why i am here"

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (the oracle)

“It seems superfluous to constrain trading in some of the newer derivatives and other innovative financial contracts of the past decade"

“Risks in financial markets, including derivatives markets, are being regulated by private parties”

“There is nothing involved in federal regulation per se which makes it superior to market regulation”

“I believe that the general growth in large institutions have occurred in the context of an underlying structure of markets in which many of the larger risks are dramatically — I should say, fully — hedged"

“Governments and central banks, could not have altered the course of the boom”

“What we have found over the years in the marketplace is that derivatives have been an extraordinarily useful vehicle to transfer risk from those who shouldn’t be taking it to those who are willing to and are capable of doing so”

"More conclusive signs of pending home price stability are likely to become visible in the first half of 2009"

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn

"there is no way to have a way out of the situation we are in without enough recapitalization of the financial institutions"
"taxpayers should be able to share upside risks once the crisis dissipates"
"i don't underestimate the problems"
"we see that the end of 2009 will be the beginning of the recovery"

G W Bush

"the United States government is acting, we will continue to act to resolve this crisis"
"the Federal government has a comprehensive strategy and the tools necessary to solve this crisis"
"anyone caught engaging in illegal financial activities will be prosecuted"
"as we act, we will do so in a way that is effective. The plan that we are executing is aggressive and is the right plan."
"we know what the problems are, we have the tools to fix them, and we are working swiftly"

G W Bush

"we worked with congress to pass the no child left behind act. This act raises standards and accountability across schools in the country"

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson

"I am confident that with the right policy response, time, and effort, we will conquer these challenges as well"

"a root cause of this situation is the housing correction"

"an uncertainty and lack of confidence has clogged our financial pipes"

US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

"Government assistance should be provided with the greatest reluctance and only when the stability of the financial system and thus the health of the broader economy is at risk. In those cases when financial stability is threatened, however, intervention to protect the public interest may well be justified."

G W Bush

"the immediate challenge facing the economy is the lack of credit. The problem became clear when the housing market declined."

"nevertheless republicans and democrats did come together to pass a good bill that will enable us to handle this challenge head-on"

"eventually, we expect that much, if not all, of the tax dollars will be recouped"

Barack Obama

"I have confidence that we can solve this problem but we're not gonna solve it with business as usual. We need fundamental change and that's why I'm running for President."

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice

"when we go back to Iraq today, one is struck, not by the daily carnage, but by the silence, ever so slowly, and indeed, ever so fragilely, of Iraq returning to normal"

"the elected regime in Baghdad is growing more effective"

G W Bush

"one thing people can be certain of is that the bill I signed is a big step toward solving this problem"

"had we not done anything, people like the folks behind me would be a lot worse off"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (democrat)

"we were able to make improvements, working in a bipartisan way, to make improvements in the legislation and then make more improvements in the legislation before it came back to the floor today"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (democrat)

"while the focus has been, in the news, on the DOW Jones on wall street, our focus has been on Mr. & Mrs. Jones on main street and how this legislation would affect them"

"in fact if we do not act, hard working Americans and millions of people will see the American dream evaporate"

G W Bush

"I know there's a lot of discussions in the newspapers and on tv about the credit freeze. Well let me tell you what this means. It means if you're runnin' a small company and you need to make payroll or you need to make sure you've got inventory to be able to sell a product or you want to expand so you can hire somebody - you need to have credit."

"the problem is because people are worried about the future, they're worried the government won't act - credit is frozen"

Senator Lindsey Graham (republican)

"Borrowing money responsibly is the heart and soul of the free market economy"

Barack Obama

"this is not merely a wall street crisis, it is an American crisis"

G W Bush

"its very important for members to take this bill very seriously. its important to get credit flowing again"

"its very important for us to pass this piece of legislation so as to stabilize the situation, so that it doesn't get worse, and that our fellow citizens lose wealth and worth"

"we talked about the comprehensive strategy necessary to succeed [Afghanistan]"

"General you and your troops are laying the foundation for peace. You're making a sacrifice today so that future generations of Americans don't have to worry about harm coming from a place like Afghanistan and future generations of Afghans can grow up in a hopeful society"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (democrat)

"this is not a bailout for wall street, its a bailout for our country. ya know, the questions that we should ask is does this bill strengthen America? and it does"

"we've taken care of executive compensation to a significant degree and we also are gonna help homeowners"

Senator John McCain (republican)

"today, with a unity that this crisis demands, Congress will once again work to restore confidence and stability to the American economy"

"there'll be a time to fix the blame for all that has happened, especially in the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac"

"now, with this measure, we have another chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country. If the financial rescue bill fails in Congress yet again, the present crisis will turn into a disaster."