The Dalhousie–King’s Conservatives were delighted to host Dr. Rick Nason of the Dalhousie Faculty of Management and principal of RSD Solutions, a financial consulting firm, on February 5th. Dr. Nason’s talk touched on a broad range of subjects, mainly centred on the current financial crisis.
A significant subject of discussion was the perils of financial regulation. While much regulation is well intended, Dr. Nason argued that “every time a regulator makes a law, a smart guy finds four ways around it” and added that the intense regulation brought in in recent years caused the financial sector to become inflexible and ultimately brought it to its knees.
“It’s time we stop regulating just to be seen as doing something!” he argued. Due to the government-mandated growth of the subprime mortgage sector in the United States, 30% of American mortgages are underwater, meaning that the mortgage is worth more than the house. Dr. Nason suggested that the bailout is so big and unknowable that it’s “like throwing a pot of spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks . . . The same amount of money, spent three years ago, would have had a huge effect . . . but now, it’s worthless!”
Dr. Nason, while pessimistic about the financial future of the Middle East, was bullish about Canada, specifically Atlantic Canada. “In Atlantic Canada, we’re in a state of perpetual depression, and it will work in our favour.” He argued that the people of Atlantic Canada are hard-working realists with an excellent quality of life There are many people in the region who could live anywhere in the world, but they’ve chosen to stay or move here, because they love it. Atlantic Canada is used to adapting and changing, he added, which is critical in an economic crisis.
The DKC is delighted to host respected lecturers such as Dr. Nason. In the coming weeks, we will be hosting the Hon. Angus MacIsaac, Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia (Feb. 10), Chuck Porter, PC MLA (Feb. 17) and the Hon. Stewart McInnes, former PC cabinet minister under Brian Mulroney, and senior partner at McInnes Cooper (Feb 19)
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