Needed: determination and vision.

• Author: Phil, Livingston
• Position: President's Page

The economy and capital markets continue to roil as I compose this piece. More than a year after the start of the Enron calamity and the tragic and cowardly attack by al Qaeda, companies and their employees are still unsettled and anxious. The prospect of war with Iraq looms over investor confidence.

This combination of a weak economy and geopolitical turmoil is unpleasant, to say the least. Corporate staff reductions and reduced brokerage and retirement accounts add to the personal anxiety on the front line. Corporate reform efforts have been substantial, but the regulators and the legislators are openly fighting over petty matters that leave the investing public without a vision for moving toward stability and security.

Whether viewed in part or in total, the events of the last year are immense. I wonder at my fellow workers' and citizens' ability to bear up under the circumstances. But some have fared better than others. Here in the New York metropolitan area, the families of the 9/11 victims are close around us: A house for sale in the neighborhood, many babies born to lost fathers and some moms that have been unable to cope, given the magnitude of their loss. Most of us feel helpless to comfort them, but many of them struggle to absorb the blows, participating in support groups and grief counseling.

Some of the emotionally wounded are emerging from the shock phase of recovery, seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, but most importantly, gathering a sense of mission about what happened and what must be done. They want answers to the tough questions about how our government let us down.

They don't ask the questions in a partisan manner, but simply and straightforwardly: "How...