Economics professor and former director of the Institute of Financial Economics, Simon Neaime, sees hard times ahead as Lebanon’s problematic political class shows no will to fix the country’s economic decline. He sees added pressures from regional stresses of poverty, inequality, and unemployment, though countries like Jordan and Egypt have taken decisive measures that elude Lebanon. He sees hope in the students and young people he encounters daily, who insist on identifying the political changes needed to save the country, including reducing corruption.