It was a week for Chicken Little, Glock weapons and a warning about watching too much Borat.
    
    “It’s premature to say that this upset in the market is changing the course of the economy in any fundamental way.” — William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. “No one has called up and said the sky is falling.” (August 15 in Bloomberg TV interview)
    
    “Are they the institution that is too big to fail and the one that the Fed says ‘We must defend?’” — James McGlynn, a Southlake, Texas-based portfolio manager with Summit Investment Partners, on Countrywide Financial Corp.’s troubles. (August 16)
    
    “Financial market conditions have deteriorated, and tighter credit conditions and increased uncertainty have the potential to restrain economic growth going forward … the Federal Open Market Committee judges that the downside risks to growth have increased appreciably.” — U.S. Federal Reserve statement announcing a cut in its discount rate. (August 17)
    
    “The schedule for the call was in direct conflict with a long-scheduled dinner meeting. President Poole was concerned that failure to appear at the dinner meeting might have been noted, which could have led to speculation about the possibility that the FOMC was holding an unscheduled meeting.” — St. Louis Fed explaining why Poole didn’t make the meeting that decided on the rate cut. (August 17)
    
    “It’s too early to say that we have seen the worst of it.” — Naomi Fink, currency strategist with BNP Paribas in New York. (August 19)

    “It would not be surprising, should the market continue to correct, that come December people will be surprised by the paucity of their bonuses next year. And a goodly number may find themselves looking for work elsewhere.” — Harlan Platt,  business professor at Northeastern University. (August 13)
    
    “This is not a rescue.” — Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer David Viniar after Goldman and some other investors injected $3 billion into a struggling Goldman-run hedge fund. (August 13)
    
   “This is a sort of preemptive rescue.” — Eric Kuby, chief investment officer for North Star Investment Management Corp. in commenting on the Goldman move. (August 13)
    
   “If they are unsuccessful in the appeals process, it’s hard to envision how they would continue to function. If they lose this case on appeal then it may be a merger that’s needed for them to survive.” — Cono Fusco, retired national managing partner of strategic relationships at Grant Thornton, speaking about a $521.7 million damages award against the sixth-largest accounting firm BDO Seidman. (August 15)
    
    “When you’re in a pit, the first thing to do is to stop digging.” — James Ellman, a portfolio manager at Seacliff Capital, on Countrywide Financial’s tightening of lending standards. (August 16) 
     
    “I can only advise these people to watch Disney cartoons instead of movies like Borat.” — Mukhtar Dzhakhishev, the president of Kazakh state uranium company Kazatomprom, commenting on a challenge by Greenpeace and other environmental groups to its plans to buy 10 percent of Toshiba’s Westinghouse nuclear power unit. (August 13)
    
    “This is an overpriced deal, at the top of the cycle, and we are not supportive.” — TPG-Axon, which owns about 3.5 percent of Akzo Nobel, in comments on Akzo’s plan to buy Britain’s ICI. (August 13)
    
    “High grade securities are trading like junk bonds as panicked investors dump names like General Electric at Tyco-like prices.” — Sentinel Management Group statement to clients. (August 13, the cash management company filed for bankruptcy on August 17)
    
    “For companies that we worked on and were overbid, we’re starting to look at those as being very attractive investments where, frankly, I think we may be able to buy the debt … and get a higher return than the underlying equity … We’re looking hard at that and that is pretty appealing to us.” — Blackstone President and COO Hamilton James (August 13).
    
    “It’s the same people who were robbing the bank 20 years ago, but instead of using a Saturday Night Special, they are using a Glock weapon.” — Cam Funkhouser, vice president in charge of market regulation for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on a spate of insider trading cases. (August 15)
    
   “Some of the best opportunities happen when you have a situation like this in the market. At times like this, we tend to find better valued assets - more bargains - and that means it is people like us who are actually going to come into the market more.” — Abu Dhabi-government investment agency Mubadala Development Co’s. Chief Operating Officer Waleed al-Muhairi. (August 16)