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DALLAS-Can Wall Street meet Main Street and reconcile their differences? New York City economist Dr. Jerry Webman says the first step is to make more funding available for credit-worthy histories so consumers can transport themselves and be strong and businesses can grow and pay employees.

Webman, senior investment officer and chief economist of OppenheimerFunds, was the keynote speaker at an investors' luncheon hosted by Dallas-based Brennan Financial Services at the Hotel InterContinental in North Dallas. "It's difficult, but not dire. It was much worse in the junk bond days of the early 1990s," he told the 200 attendees.

Webman, addressing the issue on everyone's mind, said the financial crisis isn't like the 1930s because this time government reacted. "They are trying to create liquidity and trying to create movement rather than letting it cure itself," he said.