Retiring U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan earns rave reviews from the business panel. The Chairman is perceived as having exercised much influence over the North American economy and as being hard to replace.

Key findings:

• With an average 81% performance score on a 100 point, school report-type scale, Greenspan outperforms all public figures in COMPAS’ proprietary database of performance scores, earning a grade that is more than 10 points higher than that of Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge (December, 2004), whose grades were higher than those of most Canadian public figures;
  
  
• Panellists share Greenspan’s nervousness about the state of the U.S. economy in light of high debt, protectionism, and the vulnerability of the housing market;
  
  
• Panellists also share Greenspan’s worry about the possible fall of the U.S. housing market and yet do not predict a fall in real estate prices, even in some of the hottest American markets (e.g. NYC, DC, Fl.);
  
  
• They believe that real estate in Canada will outperform that in the United States and that the traditionally hot Toronto market will continue to escalate in value.
  

These are the key findings from this week’s websurvey of the CEO and business leader panel undertaken for the Financial Post on behalf of BDO Dunwoody LLP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce

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