At the Memorial Union Theater Tuesday night, one of the nation’s most prominent economic journalists warned University of Wisconsin students not to put much faith in people who predict the future of the nation’s economic crisis.
As part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, Chrystia Freeland, United States managing editor and journalist for the Financial Times, said there was no “magic key” or “crystal ball” predicting the continuation of the recent economic recession.
An expert on financial and international issues and analyst of international trends, Freeland said to be wary of anyone who believes they can foresee the nation’s economic future.
“The media tries to get people to commit to an answer, so we ask people these questions, (to) sort of tempt them, but they can’t possibly know,” Freeland said. “I think it’s really important to know, we are living through a moment of systemic change. Not garden variety change … real change in the United States economy and the world economy.”
Freeland said she believes the “garden variety credit crunch” became a full-blown financial crisis on Sept. 15, 2008 when Lehman Brothers shocked the stock market by going broke.
She added Americans had seen the end of the Regan Era of private industry and the end of the gilded era. She continued by asking the audience if current economic times marked the end of globalization.
UW sophomore Kyle Karcheski said he liked how Freeland talked about systemic change and feels this is the first recession where Americans are out of their comfort zones.
Instead of sitting back and waiting for the economy to fix itself, Karcheski said Americans have to actually devise strategic plans to come out of the recession.
Associate director for DLS Farha Tahir discussed post-graduation job prospects and how the economic climate will affect politics at a pre-show talk and dinner with Freeland.
“It was interesting that she essentially told us not to have much faith in people who have a lot of confidence in their predictions,” Tahir said. “I thought it was very prudent and insightful piece of advice. … It was completely honest.”
Freeland was introduced by Michael Knetter, dean of the School of Business. He said Freeland graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in Russian history and literature and earned a Master of Studies degree from St. Anthony’s College at Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
“Freeland intended to go to law school,” Knetter said. “In between college and graduate school she went to Ukraine to be a stringer journalist and around that time the Soviet Union fell apart. People wanted to publish her articles about what was happening. … She went on to write for the Washington Post, The Economist and the Financial Times.”
Freeland is the author of “Sale of the Century,” a book about Russia’s journey from communism to capitalism.
