MEDIA ALERT: July 28, 2011

UMD BUSINESS FACULTY AVAILABLE TO EXPLAIN ISSUES SURROUNDING DEBT CEILING DEBATE

Finance and economics faculty experts at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business are available to comment on the federal debt ceiling debate. They can help explain the implications for the global economy should a deal not be reached, and they can provide perspective on why the political fight has been raging in Washington.

*The Smith School has an in-house facility for live or taped interviews via fiber-optic line for television or multimedia content.

This issue is not going away soon.

Albert “Pete” Kyle, Smith Chair Professor of Finance
akyle@rhsmith.umd.edu; mobile: 919-225-9696

“The debt ceiling issue is not a substantive economic issue but rather an important issue of perceptions, which gives politicians an occasion to score points with one another. The substantive issue is whether the US will have an economically viable debt-to-GDP ratio over time. Managing the debt-to-GDP ratio appropriately requires bringing the deficit under control, increasing the domestic savings rate, and generating sustainable long-term economic growth. Thus, regardless of what happens to the debt ceiling, policies regarding taxes and spending will remain important and politically divisive for many years.” -- Kyle is an expert on the banking industry and financial markets. He served as a staff member on the Brady Commission after the stock market crash of 1987 and has been a member of NASDAQ’s economic advisory board.

“An extension should keep the markets from imploding”

Clifford Rossi, executive-in-residence and finance teaching fellow
crossi@rhsmith.umd.edu; mobile: 301-908-2536

“The House proposal doesn't appear to have enough support and the Senate plan is unlikely to get some of the needed votes on the Republican side. I think they may well extend for 30 days as the only viable solution to buy time. The markets are counting on some solution and so an extension should keep markets from imploding. But if there's no solution then I believe we will see a short-term deep decline in equities. Long-term should see things improve on equities. Bonds are trickier - Treasury prices on longer instruments will decline as yields rise to reflect a downgrade, but short-end might hold up.” --Rossi has more than 25 years in the banking and regulatory industries, most recently at Citi Group where he headed risk for their domestic and global mortgage portfolio.

Counting on a compromise

William Longbrake, executive-in-residence
wlongbrake@rhsmith.umd.edu; mobile: 206-588-9044

“There are five or six scenarios. Failure to raise the debt ceiling by August 2 is unlikely, but could happen.”--Longbrake has extensive experience in finance, macroeconomics and monetary policy, risk management, housing, public policy and academia, government, serving both the public and private sectors.

Curtis Grimm, economist and dean’s professor of supply chain and strategy
cgrimm@rhsmith.umd.edu; office: 301-405-2235

“The answer is clear – we have to raise the ceiling. And we need to get serious about reducing the long-term deficit. There are plenty of ways to do this.” –Grimm is a strategy expert and teaches and MBA course on the global economic environment.