Now in handy pocket-sized form:

  • “Our future as a boomtown is over.” — Charlotte Center City Partners Moira Quinn. Quinn and gang are saying that in an effort to spin a Frontline production that is in town looking at Charlotte’s banking hangover. Fair enough. But remember this declaration when it comes time to pay for all the stuff undertaken with the assumption that Charlotte would be a boomtown forever.
  • “My job is to do justice. I have a responsibility to protect citizens just like I have a responsibility to prosecute them.” — Mecklenburg County prosecutor Peter Gilchrist. This entire story is a fascinating window on how the DA’s office has stage-managed crime-fighting in Charlotte for years. Felony arrests required Gilchrist’s approval, in effect. Then when you factor in the frequency with which felony charges are pled down and the remote chance that cases actually go to trial — ta-da, you have the county’s revolving door for violent repeat offenders.
  • “It is absolutely asinine that somebody would announce we’re going to do stress tests for banks and we’ll give you the answer in 12 weeks.” — Wells Fargo Chairman Richard Kovacevich. See, this is getting interesting. The smarter, healthy banks are figuring out what a ball-and-chain all this federal “help” really is and what it is like to do business on government time. Or try to. Just wait until inflation kicks off for real and banks scramble to protect themselves. Or try to.

That is all. Carry on as if we never spoke.