1.   Arthur Hall, a senior economist at the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit group, said the issue has become too politically charged for an agreement to emerge.

2.   At the least, says David Littman, the senior economist for Comerica Bank, Detroit has stabilized.

3.   Barry Bosworth, a senior economist at the Brookings Institution, a non-partisan think tank, said he expects fewer Asian orders for these big-ticket infrastructure items.

4.   Bonds likely rallied on expectations the coalition government will return the budget to surplus next year, said Stephen Halmarick, senior economist at NatWest Capital Markets.

5.   Bill Gilmer, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said the level of domestic activity was the highest in a decade.

6.   -- Kevin Flanagan, senior economist at Dean Witter Reynolds in New York.

7.   Adolf Rosenstock, senior economist at Industrial Bank of Japan, said unemployment numbers will probably continue to climb for the rest of the year.

8.   Bruce Steinberg, a senior economist at Merrill Lynch, said that further interest rate increases could be risky.

9.   But James E. Glassman, senior U.S. economist at J.P. Morgan, said he was less optimistic about the effect of lower prices.

10.   But the Federal Reserve Board could derail it, said Ken Ackbarali, senior economist at First Interstate Bancorp in Los Angeles.