Rebuilding from the Recession in Your Heart

FRANCIS-CANOMICS

“Jobless claims report is setback

to recovery” Headline / CNNMoney.com / October 1, 2009

“It’s not going to be an easy slog

from here.” Jim Hughes

Rutgers University economist

Is this the worst economy since the Great Depression?

QUESTION:

CarterADMINISTRATION

20%Prime Rate

April 2, 1980Source: www.wsjprimerate.us

“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

Ronald Reagan

“The U.S., along with the rest of the world, is in the midst

of a great recession.”

Paul Volcker

col!lapse [kuh laps] –noun. A sudden and complete failure; a breakdown.

“You will be confronted with questions every day that test your morals. Think carefully, and for your sake, do the right thing, not the easy thing.”

Commencement Speaker St. Anselm College, 2002

“Ex-Tyco Chief Executive Kozlowski Sentenced to 8 to 25

Years”Headline / Bloomberg.com / 09.19.2005

Strong Fundamental Values

“We must demand of ourselves and of each other the highest standards of individual and corporate integrity. We safeguard company assets. We comply with all company policies and laws.”

Source: The Tyco Guide to Ethical Conduct

“We safeguard company assets.”

! Regency mahogany bookcase, c. 1810, $105,000

! George I walnut tallcase clock, $113,750

! Custom queen bed skirt, $4,995

! Ascherberg grand piano, c. 1895, $77,000

! Chandelier, Painted Iron, c. 1930, $32,500

! Pair of Italian armchairs, c. 1780, $64,278

! Persian rug, 20 feet by 14 feet, $191,250

“In corporate America, crime pays. Handsomely. Grotesquely, even.”Arianna Huffington Pigs at the Trough

Just days after receiving an $85 billion taxpayer-funded loan, AIG spent $440,000 to pamper executives for an entire week at the extravagant St. Regis Resort.

Bad Judgment?

Corporate>> FEUDALISM

HEARTa RECESSION

OF

THE

TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY

When government allows businesses to flourish, their resulting profits will ultimately trickle down to lower-income individuals.

Aghion, P., & Bolton, P. (1997). A theory of trickle-down growth and development. Review of Economic Studies, 64(219), 151-172.

Reaganomics

Reach Out vs. Trickle Down

a case study

“And standing there bareheaded in the sun, apologizing to the beggar, the strangest thought flashed across his mind. He and this poor man were brothers.”

Sara Maynard Princess Poverty

“”

Francis, go and repair my church, which, as you see, is falling into ruins.

SOURCE: Edmund O’Gorman, St. Francis for Today

Stones and mortar?

Fix the recession!

Stocks and bonds?

“Furloughs Hit the White-

Collar Set”Headline / Wall Street Journal / 02.24.2009

Facing $38 million in budget cuts, school officials chose to furlough every

employee for five days.

Faculty and staff raised over $70,000 to help reimburse 158 lower-wage coworkers for lost income during the furloughs.

“And last but not least, we wish to thank our loyal

employees. Without them...”

—Final paragraph of every annual report

60M I L L I O N

“I prefer to live in a world where this is ordinary.”

Leonard Abess

9.8 percent

“Was thinking that if each of us helped just 1 person find a job, we could start making a dent in unemployment. You game?”

Mark Stelzner

24,000In just six months, over

Job Angels have started helping people find jobs.

Francis-canomics

“The Catholic World October 1903

THE EARLY FRANCISCANS, WITH THEIR PASSIONATE SYMPATHY FOR THE SUFFERING AND OPPRESSED, LARGELY CONTRIBUTED TO THE FINAL DISAPPEARANCE OF CORRUPT FEUDALISM.”

“A little man may do a great deal of

harm; and pray, why not a little

man do a great deal of good?”

Cotton Mather, 1825 Essays to Do Good

If a small group of business figures can cast suspicion on the integrity of

an entire nation, why can’t the actions of a small number of morally strong

individuals restore the public’s faith that people are generally good?

You might not become a saint—or get the publicity afforded notorious

business scoundrels.

Francis-canomics

But those close to you will notice, and you’ll succeed in proving that there are still

in the world today.honorable people

You game?

Rebuilding from the Recession in

Your Heart

FRANCIS-CANOMICS