* “Source of some concern that asset valuations are so high.”–Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who was replaced by Jerome Powell this week.
* “Inflation is the current bugbear but it’s also a convenient excuse for taking profits in a new year when tax rates have fallen, on short term gains at least, given the heights to which the market has risen.”–David P. Wiener, chief executive of Adviser Investments.
* “We’re monitoring the stock markets; they’re functioning very well.”–Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
* “The most important numbers to focus on are the fundamentals. And the fundamentals of this economy continue to be very strong.”–Vice President Mike Pence.
* “This is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.”–President Donald Trump, in his initial State of the Union speech.
* “I think we have to remember the Nunes memo is an advocacy piece.”–Fran Townsend, homeland security adviser to former President George W. Bush.
* “Trump (has) managed a variation on Descartes’ ‘I think, therefore I am’: ‘I think, therefore it is.’”–Henry J. Friedman, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
* “We’ve all been there. You bought weed in the park and when you got home it was pine needles and oregano.”–Comedian Bill Maher to Trump supporters who were “conned” about the wall that Mexico would pay for.
* “There is a time to come and a time to go.”–Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., in announcing that he was leaving the House. Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, was swept into office with the Tea Party wave of 2010.
* “We’ve never seen numbers like this.”–Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women & Politics, in pointing out that nationwide record numbers of women are running for congressional seats and governors’ offices.
* “You don’t have to buy into any of that Statue of Liberty stuff to favor immigration, because naked self-interest leads to the very same conclusion. A vote to choke off immigration is a vote for stagnation and decline.”–Fred Hiatt, Washington Post.
* “Bannon once promised to destroy me. Oddly, I seem to be the one standing while Hobo Steve wraps himself in trash bags on a sewer grate and downs his last plastic bottle fifth of Olde Oscelot bourbon.”–Florida-based, conservative commentator Rick Wilson.
* “(Congress) should prepare to make a large and sure federal (infrastructure) investment. If they need to find money to finance national rebuilding, there is an obvious source that they have left untapped: a moderate carbon tax could raise large sums for infrastructure construction, discourage overuse of the roads and cut energy waste, all at the same time.”–Washington Post editorial.
* “We have to resist the temptation to say that the fantastic good that’s done by foundations and innovators takes governments off the hook.”–Steven Pinker, author and Harvard University professor of psychology.
* “With the technology that’s available today, it seems like a logical next step for self-insured companies to administer the health benefit themselves.”–B. Douglas Hoey, chief executive of the National Community Pharmacists Association, on the plan of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to create an independent health care system for their U.S. employees.
* “We need to assess how we can get better.”–Amtrak statement regarding its recent spate of crashes including the one on Sunday between an Amtrak train and a CSX freight train in South Carolina.
* “It’s just a merchandiser’s dream.”–Troy Dayton, chief executive of ArcView Group, on the new uses and delivery methods for marijuana.
* “Florida’s vote-restoration scheme is crushingly restrictive. The scheme crumbles under strict scrutiny because it risks–if not covertly authorizes the practice of–arbitrary and discriminatory vote restoration.”–U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, in ruling that Florida’s archaic vote restoration system violates the U.S. Constitution.
* “Now we’re in a position where we have to figure out how to wade through this confusion and gridlock. It’s a waste of taxpayer money, and it disrupts our system when we don’t have consistency.”–Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren on the uncertain interpretation of Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
* “It is not uncommon or unusual for a single member district commissioner to graduate up to a countywide seat. When the rules were written years ago, it was a reasonable expectation that would happen.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist, a district seat holder who is running for a countywide seat in 2018.
* “I think this will be the equivalent of Tampa’s Central Park.”–Mayor Bob Buckhorn, in reference to Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, scheduled to open in May.
* “This isn’t about winning the mayor’s race. This is about winning the vision.”–Tampa mayoral candidate Ed Turanchik.
* “As much as I want to fix everything today, we have been trying to build a sustainable model, not a quick fix-it model.”–Hillsborough County School Superintendent Jeff Eakins.
* “There has been a significant amount of growth that we have seen in the last five years.”–Thomas Jewsbury, director of the St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, on a recent impact study indicating the airport’s economic impact in excess of $1 billion.