Bethany McLean Quotes & Sayings

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

McKinsey partners tend to be designers of ditches, not diggers of ditches. When it comes to executing their lofty theories, well, consultants lean toward leaving those messy realities to the companies themselves. — Bethany McLean

Back in those less complicated times, there were lots of industries that operated more or less by rote: the old banker's motto, for instance, was "3-6-3": take money in at 3 percent, lend it out at 6 percent, and be on the golf course by 3 P.M. — Bethany McLean

People also felt that a great crime had been committed, yet there was not going to be a great punishment. — Bethany McLean

The last and most painful irony is that the two longtime rival armies in the securitization market - the investment banks and the GSEs - would end up magnifying each other's sins rather than keeping each other in check. — Bethany McLean

What's good for the financial industry probably isn't good for you. — Bethany McLean

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

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

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

I think synergies are a lot like UFOs: Lots of people claim to have seen them, but few can actually prove they exist. — Bethany McLean

So Merrill Lynch has launched its first campaign in years to advertise the accomplishments of its investment banking business. The ads feature things like Merrill's recapitalization of Sierra Pacific. I guess including "helping Enron achieve its earnings goals in 1999" might be a little awkward given that Merrill Lynch bankers are currently on trial in Houston for that "accomplishment." — 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

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

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

The tale of Enron is a story of human weakness, of hubris and greed and rampant self-delusion; of ambition run amok; of a grand experiment in the deregulated world; of a business model that didn't work; and of smart people who believed their next gamble would cover their last disaster - and who couldn't admit they were wrong. — Bethany McLean

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

Going to work every day was like my hair was on fire and all I had to put it out was a hammer. — Bethany McLean

Building a portfolio around index funds isn't really settling for the average. It's just refusing to believe in magic. — Bethany McLean

Say you have a dog, but you need to create a duck on the financial statements. Fortunately, there are specific accounting rules for what constitutes a duck: yellow feet, white covering, orange beak. So you take the dog and paint its feet yellow and its fur white and you paste an orange plastic beak on its nose, and then you say to your accountants, 'This is a duck! Don't you agree that it's a duck?' And the accountants say, 'Yes, according to the rules, this is a duck.' Everybody knows that it's a dog, not a duck, but that doesn't matter, because you've met the rules for calling it a duck. — Bethany McLean

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

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

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

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

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