Iveta Radicova, former prime minister of Slovakia, speaks to UTC students as part of the Decosimo Lecture Series on Global Business on Tuesday at the UTC University Center.Iveta Radicova loves the Statue of Liberty, but she thinks its iconic torch should be replaced with a new American icon – a giant credit card.
Radicova, the former prime minister of Slovakia, gave a guest lecture Tuesday morning at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as part of the Decosimo Lecture Series. The 56-year-old European leader made headlines for being the only European Union representative that refused to provide aid for Greece when the troubled country went bankrupt for the fifth time in 2012.
She may have retired from politics in April 2012, but Slovakia’s first female professor of sociology refuses to be a lame duck. On Tuesday, she compared the complexities of the American and European markets to a class of UTC’s next economists in hopes they can address future debt and market issues based on previous failures.
She reimagined the Statue of Liberty – America’s most recognized symbol of freedom – as a metaphor for its financial difficulties.
“My voyage to the United States began in New York. I liked it. But the fire – it should be a credit card,” she said. “Then it’s precise. The basis for our life is on credit, and we are living from the sources of our children – the next generation.”