Robert J. Cuomo Ph.D. Dean Girard School of Business Merrimack College

 Economy  Stock Market  Government Regulation  Banks  Business  Consumers  Health Care Reform  Greed

 Unemployment rate of 10.2%-a 26 year high  Workers hold multiple jobs  Manufacturing and Service Sectors are both affected  End of recession is questionable  GDP is dependent on employment growth and productivity growth  It is possible to have a “jobless recovery”  The free enterprise system is being questioned

 Overspeculation led to a “housing bubble”  Foreclosures are still high  Housing prices are still falling  Housing markets are cyclical  Homes are commodities and not investments  Households must live within their means  Is owning a home a right or a privilege?

 At the height of the financial collapse, $7 trillion of wealth was eliminated  Credit was frozen  Must go down Wall Street to help those on Main Street  Government bailouts were necessary  Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was necessary  Should the government intervene into financial markets?

◦ Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were loosely regulated in early 2000’s ◦ This led to the housing bubble ◦ Regulators slow to increase interest rates ◦ Poor regulation of banks and financial intermediaries ◦ Poor regulation of borrowers ◦ Government regulation is necessary for a stable economy

 Banks were very cavalier in their lending standards  This led to excessive business and household borrowing  Many loan defaults and foreclosures  Banks will not lend if they don’t think the economy will improve  Should banks revise their default and foreclosure process?  Should borrowers be bailed out?

 Businesses will not hire if consumers are not spending  Competition and productivity concerns have led to sluggish hiring  Layoffs are more commonplace  Growth in health sciences and education  Staple Industries are more stable  Expansion plans are more conservative  There are always growth opportunities

 Consumer obsession with the “want it now” society  Poor credit management  Financial illiteracy  How responsible were consumers for the financial crisis?  How far should the government go to bail them out?  Have you changed your spending behavior?

 More than 47 million Americans are without health insurance; 25 million are underinsured  The U.S. ranks 49 th in life expectancy among nations  Medical problems account for about half of housing foreclosures  Losing a job usually means losing health insurance  The U.S. spends twice per capita on health care as other developed countries

 To significantly expand health care coverage  To increase the quality of health care in the United States  To decrease the cost of health care  To create a culture of health care responsibility

 Build upon existing system  Establishment of private “cooperatives”  Establishment of single payer system

 Should illegal immigrants be covered?  Should abortions be covered?  Should health care be rationed?  Should there be tort reform?  Should there be coverage for pre-existing conditions?

 Need to revise the compensation system  Currently health care practitioners are rewarded on a fee per service basis, i.e. the number of tests or procedures conducted  Need to base compensation on a patient management system  Compensation should be based on a patient performance basis, i.e. patient health improvement  This will reduce the desire to conduct unnecessary tests and procedures  Metrics need to be developed

 2009 will be known as a year of greed  Financial institutions  Consumers  Investors  Bernard Madoff  Executive Compensation  Behavior Modification  Ethics Education

 Questions  Comments  Further areas of inquiry