Bethany Mclean Quotes

Home ownership was the fig leaf for the rise in subprime lending. But that was really about cash-out refinancings, not buying homes.

- Bethany McLean

No city embraced privatization more eagerly than Chicago, where I live.

- Bethany McLean

The big banks advise cities about whether privatization is a wise choice. They also control the ability of states and cities to access the market for their financing needs.

- Bethany McLean

Proponents of privatization argued that cities and states needed private capital to fund all the upgrades that our decaying infrastructure so desperately needed.

- Bethany McLean

Privatization of assets that most of us consider public goods - like airports and highways - has a long, often-uncontroversial history.

- Bethany McLean

I'm not a big believer in the power of more regulation to fix things. I think it can almost be more dangerous because it provides the illusion that things have been fixed without the substance.

- Bethany McLean

In capital we trust. Capital is our savior, our holy grail, our fountain of youth, or at least health, for banks.

- Bethany McLean

Google worries - and rightly so - about how hard it is for a big company to come up with the next hot thing.

- Bethany McLean

When Warren Buffett invests in a company, he is conferring upon that company something very unique: his credibility.

- Bethany McLean

Before Enron, I think people were a bit more naive about the way things worked, and I think Enron pulled the curtain back on unsavoury practices that turned out to be a lot more widespread.

- Bethany McLean

Capital isn't this pile of money sitting somewhere; it's an accounting construct.

- Bethany McLean

Choices of right or wrong are not presented to you in black and white. If they were, I'm sure most people would choose white.

- Bethany McLean

Fixing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in isolation, without looking at the big picture, would be short-sighted.

- Bethany McLean

The worst story I ever wrote was after the conviction of Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. My co-author and I wrote a piece for 'Fortune' saying everything's going to be different now.

- Bethany McLean