“I was the kid that was wondering what was faster, a car or a bee… what if garbage cans were gold… I'd posit these what-if questions and throw them to people around me.”— Brian Grazer
The quote archive
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
A lot of negatives have already happened in Greece, and now there is an opportunity. Most Greek assets have been going down in price at some time, and if you happen to hold the right assets? You'll make a killing!
— Nicholas EconomidesProfessor of Economics specializing in network economics and digital markets
There is a significant part of the Greek economy- maybe 30-40%- is not in the 'official' books. That has to be reined in. To put this in context, if that is reined in… to a large extent, the revenue side of the Greek problem would be fixed.
— Nicholas EconomidesProfessor of Economics specializing in network economics and digital markets
If Greece gets serious about privatisation, reducing the state sector and collecting existing taxes... if these things are done, whilst also reducing democracy? Then I believe Greece will emerge as a very significant success story. It could get the primary deficit eliminated in two years- creating a surplus.
— Nicholas EconomidesProfessor of Economics specializing in network economics and digital markets
Big firms can get credit and are not using it while small firms cannot get credit at all.
— David BlanchflowerFormer Federal Reserve Member & Leading Labor Economics Scholar
If you want to rebalance, you have to understand that you must rebalance from construction and finance into something else. But what? It's very hard to see where any sustainable growth can come from.
— David BlanchflowerFormer Federal Reserve Member & Leading Labor Economics Scholar
To talk of 'a march of the makers'... I was just looking at a collapse in the numbers of process, plant and machine operatives... The march of the makers has actually been a march of the unemployed-makers!
— David BlanchflowerFormer Federal Reserve Member & Leading Labor Economics Scholar
Why would anybody at all invest in an economy where the three leaders said the country was bankrupt?! That's what's killed off confidence and investment in the economy.
— David BlanchflowerFormer Federal Reserve Member & Leading Labor Economics Scholar
The economy is in the doldrums and likely to worsen. The UK economy has performed worse than most Euro Zone countries, and the calls for a change, of course, are becoming pretty loud. The economists who backed Osborne in 2010 have basically withdrawn their support, the IMF lowered its growth forecast and so on. The government's economic strategy is clearly in disarray.
— David BlanchflowerFormer Federal Reserve Member & Leading Labor Economics Scholar
I would essentially- start by abandoning everything Osborne set out to do. I would be cutting taxes, not raising them. I would immediately reverse the VAT raise that he had. I would immediately remove national insurance on the young, and give firms very big tax incentives to hire and invest. I would impose those within an hour of taking office.
— David BlanchflowerFormer Federal Reserve Member & Leading Labor Economics Scholar
I think the scale is potentially huge. Frankly, this is one of the reason why investigation is so important. The best approach is to keep an open mind and let the investigation go where it may.
— Andrew LoMIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
We should not assume that there is one single benchmark for all types of financial transactions. There are certain transactions that should be based on market rates, and others which call for the kind of benchmark that LIBOR provides.
— Andrew LoMIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
Once you're able to reduce the human element, and automate the reporting of these statistics- you will be greatly reducing the potential for misbehaviour. This is where regulators can leverage technology, reduce their burden, and create a much more reliable system for all.
— Andrew LoMIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
It has certainly affected the appetite to investors to engage in LIBOR denominated contracts. Financial markets depend on trust, and we had precious little trust as it was. The LIBOR scandal has done nothing to restore that trust.
— Andrew LoMIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
It certainly plays a much bigger role than was ever intended to. A number of financial institutions and contracts rely on LIBOR as the benchmark by which other rates are set. I don't think it was ever intended that LIBOR would play such a central role between so many institutions and contracts.
— Andrew LoMIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
The original motivation was to develop a sense of what lending rates were among the large money-centre banks. It was really meant as a reference rate of where supply and demand of funds sat at a given point in time. It was meant to be a fairly robust measure of borrowing and lending activity.
— Andrew LoMIT Finance Professor & Pioneer of Quantitative Finance & Behavioral Economics
Why does torture happen? There are a variety of reasons, paramount is the role of torture as a 'shortcut' to investigating crime- many investigators and police have used this from time immemorial, and the efforts to abolish and curb it have been progressing over the years.
— Juan MéndezUN Special Rapporteur on Torture & Other Cruel, Inhuman Treatment