“I think it does encourage flight to quality, temporarily, but actually I think once we get beyond this point, there is a deadline here, ... December 12th is a deadline out there looming not very long away, and I think that once we get beyond that point we really will see this as little more than a blip in the radar screen, as much as it seems like a major event in the moment for the markets. But it's not part of the fundamental economy.”
“Larry Summers is the economic conscience of Rubin. He is the economic half of that team. Rubin had market smarts and the political savvy; Larry Summers was, in many ways, the economic mastermind here.”
“The question is not whether the consumer is slowing. From the Fed's perspective, it's whether the consumer is slowing down fast enough to keep inflation in check,”
“What can the Fed do about WorldCom? This is not an interest rate problem. This is not something they should be involved with, ... I'm sorry, Wall Street, but you can't look to the Fed to save you when they don't have the tools to save you on this one.”
