Loose cannons

Like putting profits before social needs?

"If we're going to give each other [trade] preferences, we have to have fundamental common values." — Marc Lortie, personal representative of Canadian PM Jean Chretien to the Summit of the Americas being held in Quebec City this month.

It's called 'crashing'

"The transition from communism to a free-market economy is like changing the engine on an airplane while it is still flying." — US academic Gerard Roland speaking at a an international conference in Prague on the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe

Never happened before, right?

"The downturn in Central and Eastern Europe that followed the introduction of markets and privatisation took economists by surprise. Permitting free markets to allocate goods and services was supposed to lead to efficiency, not depression." — Princeton University economics professor Alan B. Krueger.

And keep a straight face while lying

"[She] can appear on Vogue magazine cover looking stunning or she can make a jibe about baking cookies, and she can be a mother who cares about Chelsea and wants to protect her. On the other hand she can grasp complex facts ... while t the same time being an articulate and extraordinary speaker." — Democrats senator and leadership hopeful Natasha Stott Despoja on her "role model", US Senator Hillary Clinton.

From GLW issue 443