We should never discount the ability of American entrepreneurs to solve our most complex problems - even those that plague us today.Financial crises ; Economic conditions

Richard W. Fisher

English

Research Papers in Economics

    President’sPerspective
Paul  Newman’s  recent  passing  at  age  83 
brought to mind the down-to-earth wisdom in 
something the great actor once said: “If you’re 
playing a poker game and you look around 
the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s 
you.”
These days, it appears that financial mar-
ket participants are spending more time look-
ing around the table than looking for good 
investments. Their insecurity led to a freezing 
up of the credit markets, the lifeblood of cap-
italism. Our economy cannot operate when 
funds do not flow, and too many players are 
hoarding their chips, checking their bets and 
reducing the overall size of the pot. 
Willingness  to  take  on  risk  has  effec-
tively dried up, leading to significant liquidity 
squeezes and funding pressures. This distrust 
has hindered capital markets and, by exten-
sion, the whole economy. 
The Federal Reserve is doing what a cen-
tral bank is called to do at a time like this: We are acting as the lender of last 
resort, serving as a bridge to the time when confidence is restored and capital 
begins to flow again.
History has seen many booms propelled by greed and busts born of fear. 
But the U.S. economy has always risen above the turbulence and uncertainty.
At times like these, we would do well to heed the advice of the late Marcus 
Nadler—a renowned business adviser, professor and foreign division chief at the 
Federal Reserve Board:
You’re right if you bet that the U.S. economy will continue to expand. •	
You’re wrong if you bet that it is going to stand still or collapse. •	
You’re wrong if you bet that any one element of our society is going to  •	
run or wreck the country.
You’re right if you bet that those in business, labor and government are  •	
sane, reasonably well informed and decent people who can be counted 
on to find common ground among all their conflicting interests and work 
out a compromise solution to the big issues that confront them.
These four propositions—known as Old Doc Nadler’s Remedy—were not 
written for a recent edition of the New York Times. They were crafted some 80 
years ago to counter the pessimism that gripped our financial system following 
the crash of 1929. They serve as a reminder that we should never discount the 
ability of American entrepreneurs to solve our most complex problems—even 
those that plague us today.
 
  Richard W. Fisher
  President and CEO
  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
We should never   
discount the ability of 
American entrepreneurs 
to solve our most complex 
problems—even those 
that plague us today.

President's perspective

http://dallasfed.org/assets/documents/research/swe/2008/swe0805a.pdf

President's perspective

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