Stilltitled

Some of them continue to deny there is anything wrong. And they’re lying. It’s a shakeout of heroic consequence. The retailers who adjust and defend and protect their equity will come out of this in great shape.

—Mark Cohen, a professor at Columbia Business School, previously the head of Sears Canada

Once the vendors start to pull out, the ballgame is over.

—Lawrence Gottlieb, Cooley Godward Kronish.

If you’re a supplier, there’s no way you’re going to stop shipping to Sears because they’re so darn big.

—Stephen J. Hoch, the Wharton School

There are a lot of people out there who want to lump us in with Circuit City. We’re not a Circuit City.

—Mike Newman, CFO, Office Depot

::Retail: NYT::

These jobs aren’t coming back. A lot of production either isn’t going to happen at all, or it’s going to happen somewhere other than the United States. There are going to be fewer stores, fewer factories, fewer financial services operations. Firms are making strategic decisions that they don’t want to be in their businesses.

—NYT: John E. Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia

[Rush Limbaugh] is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.

—Rahm Emanuel

Manufacturing output fell sharply again in January, bringing the rate of capacity utilization to its lowest level in the post-World War II period

—Bernanke, March 3 in testimony to Congress

Options investors are paying twice this decade’s average to protect against losses in U.S. stocks through 2011, signaling the bear market that already wiped out $10.4 trillion of equity value may last two more years.

—Bloomberg

There’s a real panic in the markets, with some people wanting to buy long-term insurance at any price. People have lost hope.

—Peter Sorrentino, Huntington Asset Advisors Inc. in Cincinnati

Things are getting worse. The economy is still deteriorating and bad debts are still going to appear.

—Alex Crooke, portfolio manager at Henderson Global Investors in London

Whatever the downsides may be, strong and immediate action by government was essential last year if the financial system was to avoid a total breakdown. Had that occurred, the consequences for every area of our economy would have been cataclysmic. Like it or not, the inhabitants of Wall Street, Main Street and the various Side Streets of America were all in the same boat.

the credit crisis, coupled with tumbling home and stock prices, had produced a paralyzing fear that engulfed the country. A freefall in business activity ensued, accelerating at a pace that I have never before witnessed. The U.S. – and much of the world – became trapped in a vicious negative-feedback cycle. Fear led to business contraction, and that in turn led to even greater fear.

—Warren Buffet