The week in words: Stupid bankers; promoting painkillers

"Just because we were stupid doesn't mean everybody else was."— JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, asked whether other banks had lost big on "hedge" investments like the one that cost JPMorgan $2 billion.

"The enormous loss JPMorgan announced today is just the latest evidence that what banks call 'hedges' are often risky bets that so-called too-big-to-fail banks have no business making." — U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

"We can't compromise with the idea that we will insist on the wrong thing, but in smaller amounts. That would have made sense if this was two years ago. But now we have an economy on its knees, in tatters, and a society that can't take any more." — Greek election runner-up Alexis Tsipras, whose anti-bailout Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, was refusing to join any government that does not reject the austerity terms.

"We created a lot of wealth for hundreds of people out of what I call selling hot dogs and picking up dirty laundry." — Aramark Corp. chief executive Joseph Neubauer, who stepped down from that post but will remain chairman.

"We are aggressively pursuing new revenue streams and reducing costs within our control. These actions are not enough to return the Postal Service to profitability." — Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, after the Postal Service announced a $3.2 billion quarterly loss.

"When it comes to these highly addictive painkillers, improper relationships between pharmaceutical companies and the organizations that promote their drugs can put lives at risk." — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), on why he and another senator announced an investigation into whether pharmaceutical companies are inappropriately pushing sales by funding doctors and quasi-independent groups set up to produce positive literature about prescription painkillers.

Compiled from The Inquirer, Associated Press and Bloomberg News.