(FORTUNE Magazine) – -- SERGEI MAVRODI, 39, president of MMM, the Russian mutual fund accused of defrauding millions of investors in a pyramid scheme, in an open letter published by Russian newspapers: "I personally evaluate the future of MMM as glittering. Even the danger of the accidental arrest of our leadership no longer threatens us. I am already in prison, and they can't do more than that."

-- ROBERT REICH, 48, U.S. Labor Secretary, on the baseball strike: "Baseball had been the emblem of the national pastime, the emblem of kids, the symbol of summer. It is now unfortunately becoming a symbol of national greed."