Marketplace: Bailout not a quick fix, says TV reporter Susie Gharib

Susie Gharib, co-host of the nationally televised Nightly Business Report, cautions investors to not expect miracles. The revised bailout bill now moving through Congress is not an instant solution to the financial problems facing the U.S. economy.

In an exclusive telephone interview with The Columbian on Wednesday, Gharib expressed concern that some might see the bill as “a quick fix” to the nation’s credit crisis.

“We are facing a complex and complicated problem that will take some time to unwind,” Gharib said. “Hopefully the billions allocated in this bill will get money flowing, but it took years to get into this situation and it will take time to get out of it.”

And whether average Americans fully understand that the crisis is not a “Wall Street versus Main Street” issue also is uncertain.

“People say that they don’t invest in the stock market or care about Wall Street, but what they may not realize is that their pension is invested in stocks, that to get a car loan requires that we have a working credit market and that the bonds for that new local airport must be insured by AIG,” Gharib said. “We are in a very interconnected world.”

For example, she points to the reality that many small businesses rely on the credit market just to meet payroll, and if banks close their lending windows, people will lose jobs.

A former senior writer at Fortune magazine, Gharib built her career at CNBC, NBC and ESPN and has been with the Nightly Business Report for 10 years. The 30-minute show airs at 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays on Oregon Public Broadcasting Channel 10.

“Our mission is to bring the most important (business) news and analysis to our program,” she said. “Everyday we want to give viewers what they need to know about their world, their money and their jobs. With only 30 minutes we try to squeeze in as much as we can.”

Based in New York City, Gharib holds a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University. She sees markets in for a continuing tough time. How long it’s going to be is hard to predict.

She recently interviewed Joseph Stiglitz, a 2001 Nobel Prize winner in economics who said even he was reluctant to make forecasts about the economy.

“The experts expect that we facing a bumpy period. … How mild it will be or rough it will be is not certain. But I have confidence in the smart people addressing this problem and in the American people that we can get through this,” she said.

As for Nightly Business Report, Gharib expects things to remain “stressful and unpredictable” as news keeps breaking on the business beat.

Julia Anderson is The Columbian business editor. To reach her send e-mail to
julia.anderson@columbian.com or call 360-735-4509.