Published: October 06, 2008 10:53 pm         

Sycamore Showcase aims to answer financial crisis questions

Learn more about what the Wall Street meltdown means during Indiana State University’s Sycamore Showcase at noon Wednesday in the Hilton Garden Inn at Seventh Street and Wabash Avenue.

Headlines bemoan the failure of commercial banks and the collapse of financial and insurance giants, while pundits play the blame game for the burst housing bubble, and debate an enormous government intervention to pull our financial system out of a death spiral — but do you understand how all this happened, why it matters, or what it means for you? Did anyone see this coming? Do daily gyrations in the stock market indicate what’s really happening to the economy? What does all this mean for Main Street?

Beginning at noon, six panelists will discuss the causes of the Wall Street meltdown. They will explain how the situation unraveled, and discuss the effects of the financial crisis on the global and national economies, and what it means for your financial future.

Panelists from ISU include: Lakshmi Bala, assistant professor of finance; John Conant, professor and chairman of the economics department; Bob Guell, associate professor of economics; Jack Tatom, director of ISU’s Networks Financial Institute and Tarek Zaher, professor and finance program coordinator. They will be joined by Bill Minnis, president of Citizens National Bank in Paris, Ill.

Attendees are welcome to bring their lunch or buy a box lunch for $9.

Box lunches must be reserved in advance by calling (812) 237-2334.

Sycamore Showcase at Noon is a regular free event for the Wabash Valley community and the ISU community and is designed to foster collaboration between the two entities.

For more information, call ISU’s Center for Public Service and Community Engagement at 237-2334.