Credit Crunch, Diverse Economy Dominate Talks

ONTARIO, CA-Wall Street and the Inland Empire are not terms generally found in the same sentence. However, they were frequently linked together yesterday at the second annual RealShare Inland Empire conference, held at the Ontario Convention Center.

With more than 350 industry professionals in attendance, a variety of panelists echoed a similar refrain: Such is the flattening of the world economy and the symbiotic relationship of the global financial markets that when a subprime loan fizzles in Hemet, CA, it’s felt at a hedge fund in Australia or a bank in Germany.

As the nation braces for the foreclosure fallout, the Inland Empire, which has been among the nation’s fastest growing regions in recent years, experiencing a staggering building boom, could be one of the hardest hit.