Loose cannons
Tar
"Listen, when you cough up a big guba here, you're coughing up tar. When you've got big chunks of that, you don't have to worry too much." — A US colonel and medical administrator explaining that the pollution from Kuwait's oilwell fires is not toxic.
Refusal may offend
"If we had out time over again, of course, we wouldn't do some of the things we did. But please remember — people came in the door asking for money." — ANZ chief executive Will Bailey, on banks' lending policies in the '80s.
Indeed
"We don't make higher profits when interest rates are higher. Indeed, the opposite is true." — Will Bailey.
Blind ambition
"I want to be Robin to Bush's Batman." — US Vice President Dan Quayle.
Last chance
Planning to attend the ALP national conference? For only $2700, you can register as a business delegate. Benefits include a serviced office and special briefings from Bob Hawke and various ministers and Labor premiers.
Silver linings
"The recession has barely dented the growth in salary and perks paid to senior executives of Australia's leading corporations.
"The remuneration paid to the 10 highest-paid executives of the 23 largest public companies increased by an average 14.6 per cent last year." — Financial Review, June 21.
Recession reading
The Sydney Morning Herald reports the following titles among new business books shortly to be published in the US: Going For Broke: How Robert Campeau Bankrupted the Retail Industry; Den of Thieves; Greed: Keating, Congress and the S & L Debacle; Deceitful Practices; House of Cards (on American Express); Bankrupt; and Den of Thieves: The Untold Story of the Men Who Plundered Wall Street.