Finance Professionals Talk Bailout At West Virginia U.

This story was written by Bethany Bealko, The Daily Athenaeum

On Monday night at the College of Business and Economics, students and members of the community met to discuss the recent financial crisis and the $700 billion bailout recently passed in Washington.The panel was sponsored by the newly formed West Virginia University Investment Club.The idea came from Investment Club member, Anthony Giambrone, who worked alongside with other Investment Club members to organize the panel.Panelists addressed the history of the crisis, and how to manage their finances and avoid financial hardships while the market is unstable.(The) pockets of the United States are experiencing financial crisis for the most part the financial system is fine, said Jodie Hughes, North Regional president of West Virginia.During his time speaking, Hughes cited the city of Detroit as an example as a city in a financial crisis.He added that the bailout doesnt address the core problems like failing banks faced by the United States and instead covers them up.Hughes, who oversees the northern part of West Virginia for BB&T, said the bank is strong and is still making loans at 10 percent.George Selgin, BB&T professor of Free Market taught at WVU said the fundamental cause of the crisis was greed.He added that the proverbial bubble was fueled by people who overlooked the problem, until the bubble had burst and then became their problem.Hold on to your wallets. This crisis may take away your money in the bank, but the next one will take the money right out of your wallet, he said.Victor Chow, Deans professor of Finance at WVU who also deals with Chinese business, felt that greed was a factor.He went on to say that the greed had played a role in the real estate market.The credit crunch caused the financial market to crash which caused a global and U.S.-long recession, he said.Alex Kurov, an associate professor of finance, agreed with his colleague and addressed the problem within real estate.The real estate bubble is deflating and we need to try and inflate it again, he said.He believed the vicious cycle that led to the crisis is as follows: the housing bust led to mortgage loses, which led to inadequate financial capitol, which then led to a credit crunch, which finally resulted in a recession.The recession, he said, has caused our economy to become weak.After some time, with each panelist discussing the issue, the night ended with a question and answer session.