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David Nelms, CEO of Discover Financial Services, is asking business, media and government leaders to be more positive as the nation works its way out of an economic recession. "It seems to me that people are almost falling over themselves to say how bad things are and how bad they're going to get," Nelms said Tuesday during a speech to the Executives Club of Chicago. "The danger with all the negative talk is that it sometimes becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy." The government has done much to help during the economic crises, but it will need to do more, Nelms said. "Many parts of our capital markets, such as commercial paper and securitizations markets, effectively shut down as investors de-leveraged or lost confidence," he said. When the federal government provided support to the capital markets, problems spread to such areas as credit card securitizations, Nelms added. As markets return to normal, it will be important for government to withdraw its support by removing stimulus programs gradually or face possible inflation, Nelms stressed. "A significant risk will be to put in place necessary regulatory reform while preventing the backlash of over-regulation of financial services that can occur in a time like this," he said.
