Rebuilding from the Recession in Your Heart

FRANCISCANOMICS

“Top economists wary of declaring recession over”

Headline / San Francisco Chronicle / 04.13.10

“The Recession Is OVER, Says

Economic Panel.” Associated Press

September 20, 2010

“LABOR MARKET STILL SOFT AS JOBLESS

CLAIMS RISE” –NEWSROOM AMERICA, 01/27/11

—Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research

“ ”the recovery is very weak. This report is a clear warning that

Is this the worst economy since the Great Depression?

QUESTION:

CarterADMINISTRATION

20%Prime Rate

April 2, 1980Source: www.wsjprimerate.us

COMPANIES COULD NOT AFFORD TO BORROW MONEY TO OPERATE THEIR FACTORIES. SUPPLY DRIED UP. AS A RESULT, THE INFLATION RATE AT THE TIME WAS 14.5 PERCENT.

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

Ronald Reagan

Landslide!

Reagan Carter

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org

“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

ENRON MERRILL LYNCH J.P. MORGAN WORLDCOM GOLDMAN SACHS

HEWLETT-PACKARD CITIGROUP IMCLONE GROUP BANK OF AMERICA

a slippery slope

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?

“I would like my life back.”Tony Hayward, former BP CEO

Photo by W

in McN

amee/G

etty Images

Corporate>> FEUDALISM

PERCENT

Less than half of all U.S.

employees trust their senior

leaders.

49

Source: Watson Wyatt

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

Ripple 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 co-workers for lost income during the furloughs.

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

employees. Without them...”

—Final paragraph of most annual reports

60M I L L I O N

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

Leonard Abess

9.4 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

“You game?”

40,000In the first year, over

Job Angels started helping people find jobs.

Franciscanomics

“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 few leaders can cast suspicion on the integrity of an entire nation...

...then why can’t some morally strong leaders restore the public’s faith that people are generally good?

You might not become a saint—or get the publicity afforded today’s notorious business scoundrels.

Franciscanomics

But you’ll succeed in proving that there are still

in the world today.HONORABLE PEOPLE

You game?

Rebuilding from the Recession in Your Heart

FRANCISCANOMICS