by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Months ago when the Economic Roundtable of Jacksonville invited U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw to speak at the organization’s October meeting, there was no way to know what events would have unfolded in the past few weeks in the national and global economies.
“Little did we know when we put this program together that the congressman’s script might be changing by the hour,” said Peter Wynkoop, president of the Economic Roundtable.
Crenshaw is currently in his fourth term in Florida’s Fourth Congressional District and is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and Military Construction and Foreign Operations subcommittees.
“The last three weeks have reminded me of the Chinese proverb that states ‘May you live in interesting times.’ I’ll tell you the last three weeks have been the most remarkable times I can remember or even imagine.
“Who would have thought three weeks ago that three of the five largest investment banks in the country would just disappear? Who would have thought the largest savings and loan in America would go bankrupt?” said Crenshaw.
He also said many were surprised by the sequence of events because, “Our economy runs on credit and the credit crisis that has been taking place has been happening behind the scenes. It’s out of the mainstream. Everybody sees the stock market go up and down, but people just count on credit.”
While he admitted the jury is still out on the eventual effect of the so-called “bailout plan,” Crenshaw believes Congress had no choice but to put it in place.
“I have spent 20 years of my life working in finance. I’m a free market person more so than just about anybody, but this was an emergency. It was bigger than the private sector could handle. If we didn’t do something, a lot of people would be hurt. We don’t know if it’s going to work or not but it will definitely change the way we do business.”
When he was first invited to speak, Crenshaw was asked to prepare a “report card” on the 100th Congress.
He delivered that report Tuesday in addition to his economic insights.
“In the last two years in the U.S. Congress, we haven’t done a whole lot,” said Crenshaw, who credited the lack of production to partisan politics ranging from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin.
“One of the things people in the business community may not realize is how powerful the leadership is in the House and the Senate. We’re not in session now and there will probably be a special session called after the election to do some of the things we haven’t done,” said Crenshaw. “The Appropriations Committee was adjourned four months ago and we haven’t had a meeting since, so none of the appropriations bills were passed. The government is being funded on what’s called a continuing resolution. It’s being funded at last year’s level because we didn’t write the Appropriations Bill this year.”
Joe McCann, dean of the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University, pointed out hosting events like the Economic Roundtable fulfills part of the college’s mission.
“We are part of the community and we have a unique opportunity to play this role. We have the resources and the intellectual curiosity. We have our own debates about these issues. Aside from the fact he’s involved in his campaign (for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives) we value his knowledge of economics as well as his knowledge of the national and local economies,” said McCann.
The next meeting of the Economic Roundtable of Jacksonville will be held Nov. 19 with guest speaker Dr. Lynn Reaser, chief economist for the Investment Group at Bank of America. Reaser is also a past president of the Economic Roundtable.
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