Business Seminar: The Road to Recovery - Essay Example

 As a result, the US economy is just as dependent on the economic recovery of its trade partners as its trade partners are dependent on the US recovery. It is a long-held tenet of economists that no nation’s economy can thrive without the infusion of foreign funds. In this regard, foreign funds come from a variety of sources. These sources include international trade, tourism, multinational enterprises, foreign investments among other sources. When domestic economies fail, their ability to engage in foreign trade and other methods of spending abroad is diminished.

In attempting to repair the current economic crisis, it is therefore important to look toward how those efforts impact the economic potential of our trade partners.Comments: Essentially Crittenden maintains that in strategizing economic reformation, the US is not at liberty to merely focus on strengthening its own markets, but will have to take measures that do not weaken the markets of its trade partners. This does not necessarily mean that the US is required to provide bail-out packages for its trade partners, but ensure that bailout packages at home do not function to distort the market in terms of fair competition.

If our industries are able to recover but are not able to influence healthy competition both at home and abroad, the open market economy is in jeopardy. For instance, a bail-out package that rescues a domestic automobile company but does nothing to engage the foreign injection of funds in terms of purchasing and competition will have very little impact in the long-term.The American Dream, Can We Get it Back? I Believe We Can” by George Tribble CEO of Tribble Mortgage Company was primarily focused on identifying ways in which individual efforts can culminate in economic recovery.

Consumer spending is one of the primary ways in which the economy is stimulated. To encourage consumer spending prices have to be such that the consumer is encouraged to spend more. This is particularly so in circumstances where consumers lose confidence in the economic stability and are more apt to reduce spending habits. Retailers have to find ways to reach the consumer and encourage spending. This means spending more money on marketing and reducing the cost to the consumer. This can be particularly challenging in difficult economic times and means that the retailer will have to cut cost in other areas to offset the losses that will come from marketing and reduced prices.

Target areas should therefore be in cutting overhead costs and reducing, if not eliminating discretionary capital spending. Comments: Tribble’s speech drew attention to the role that the consumer plays in the economy and the ironies of the interplay between industries and consumers. Personal observations have revealed the fact that when the economy suffers both retailers and consumers tend to respond in ways that are very different from the strategy devised by Tribble. Retailers tend to increase prices and consumers tend to spend less.

According to Tribble both practices only delay or compromise the economic recovery. It would appear from Tribble’s speech that the best way to stimulate the economy is to somehow influence the consumer’s spending habits with a view to encouraging greater spending. When retailers increase their prices in a particularly difficult economy, consumers will spend far less. It, therefore, follows that retailers have to look elsewhere for economic recovery. Consumers on the other hand have to respond favorably to retailer markdowns so that the economy can recover and we can once again be more optimistic about achieving the American Dream.