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Top 5 Quotes In Capitol Hill Hearing With Top 4 Bankers

Published: Jan 13, 2010

 Finance       
Today the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission grilled Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Morgan Stanley Chairman (and former CEO) John Mack. The Commission wanted answers to why the crisis happened (and didn't get what they wanted). The following are the top five quotes from the, at times, heated Q&A session:

5. "It was a failure of risk management of colossal proportion."
-Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein on AIG's risky business plan that nearly caused its collapse

4. "No institution should be too big to fail"
-JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon

3. "It sounds like you're selling a car with faulty brakes and then buying an insurance policy on the car."
-Phil Angelides, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission chairman, addressing Blankfein about Goldman selling subprime mortgage-backed securities while simultaneously betting against them

2. "We did eat our own cooking and we choked on it."
-Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack on the rather unappetizing mortgage-backed securities that crushed the banking industry

1. "These were acts of men and women."
-Phil Angelides, interrupting Blankfein as the Goldman CEO compared parts of the financial crisis to an "earthquake" and "acts of God"

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