For Community/Business Leaders

The Community Programs Committee of the Center for Investment and Wealth Management is the arm of the Center that provides programming for the business community.

The CIWM Conference Series is a set of periodic luncheons offered to the business community on timely issues. The next one, entitled "The New Investment Realities" will be held November 16, 2009. Details for CIWM 11.16.09 Luncheon.

Recap of July 23, 2009 Conference

Andrew J. Policano, dean of The Paul Merage School of Business, and California State Controller John Chiang today shared a challenging economic outlook with a sold out crowd during the Economic Outlook Revisited: Changing Strategies for Changing Times conference held at The Pacific Club in Newport Beach.

“We [the state] have taken the easy way out by borrowing and now that has come to roost,” said Chiang who stated his goal was to keep California from defaulting on its debt. “The worst thing that can happen is that the State would default,” said Chiang who is taking steps to try and avoid that outcome.

Policano commented, “We cannot sustain the current budget path, things will have to adjust.” He further commented, “The key to gaining some traction lies in innovation, reasonable savings, and a decrease in the size of government. We will recover, but it will be slow.”

Policano forecasted we would not reach full employment until somewhere around 2013. As the unemployment rate approaches 5.5 to 6% in 2012 -2013, he also predicted there will be some combination of an increase in taxes, inflation and interest rates. Download Policano Presentation Notes

Both Chiang and Policano agree that information and transparency are critical, and keeping the public informed is key. Chiang posts monthly reports to his website at www.sco.ca.gov on the tenth of every month at 10:00 a.m. Policano keeps a blog at economicgoodnews.blogspot.com, where he provides followers with up-to-date reports on the latest economic indicators.

The Economic Outlook Revisited: Changing Strategies for Changing Times conference was hosted by the Center for Investment and Wealth Management at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. The conference was a follow-on to the Economic Outlook conference hosted in January of this year by the Irvine Chamber of Commerce.