BALTIMORE -- Many Marylanders still have a lot of questions about the economy, real estate, credit and employment, but local economists said they're optimistic for the future.

When Wall Street started to fail a year ago, nobody really knew how bad things were going to get, 11 News reporter Lowell Melser said. But economists said they believe markets are stabilizing and that the future is starting to look bright -- even though they added that it will be a very long process.

The financial tsunami that saw Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch and Washington Mutual fail panicked a lot of people, according to SPG Trend Advisor Morris Segall, but he said national and local growth is expected in the third and forth quarters thanks to the government stimulus.

"The clunker program for cars, first-time buyer tax credit for homes and other stimulus and subsidy programs (helped)," he said. "You really have to look like if it's priced right, it's going to move." http://www.wbaltv.com/money/20909834/detail.html