Barry Johnson is president/CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, South Florida's largest business organization.

Q. How are your members being impacted by the current economic crisis?

The crisis has not been explained well by most reporters and fewer politicians, frankly. The most critical piece of it is the liquidity, having it so that there is credit available. Banker to banker is where we're hearing most of the issues. For most of our members, and most of the business people we speak to, they're not experiencing it yet, although some of our car-dealer members are talking about it because it is a problem for them.

Q. Do you think a bailout was necessary for the economy here?

I think the bailout was necessary for the economy in general. I think it's something that's a Band-Aid, quite frankly not the end-all, but I think that certainly wise people who know a lot about our overall financial posture feel that it is critical. . . . It's a first step toward an improved economy.

Q. Do you think there are any long-term ramifications from this current crisis for business here in South Florida?

Everyone is concerned about where we go from here. We have a unique residential real-estate marketplace with just an incredible inventory of unsold condominiums that will probably remain that way for a long time. We're also facing what looks to be a similar situation in commercial real estate. . . . But one of the things we have in South Florida that makes our marketplace unique is we don't rely solely on the economy of the United States. . . . We attract so many who want to do business here because of our position as a point between Europe, Latin America and the U.S. and Latin America. We have tremendous international tourism that allows our economy to be somewhat insulated. So we have more elasticity here, and it allows us to bounce back quicker.

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