by Rebecca Hightower
The University of West Georgia's Richards College of Business, department of Economics, and the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce hosted an annual economic forecast breakfast event with approximately 400 local and regional business professionals and the local public in attendance. Three featured economic experts highlighted trends and spoke to issues affecting the economy and the emerging business climate for the local, state, and national regions. The message was one of positivity.
Dr. William "Joey" Smith speaks at this year's annual economic forecast breakfast.
Associate professor of economics, Dr. William "Joey" Smith, provided an informative update on the regional economy including Carroll, Coweta, Douglas, Haralson, Paulding, and Polk counties. Dr. Smith noted that there have been sectorial gains in agriculture and housing and that the economy has a better footing than it did two years ago and that the region can expect continued gains in 2015. He also said that houses are selling while the interest rates remain low, and the region has fewer foreclosures overall, although Douglas County still leads the state in foreclosures. Dr. Smith is a David A. Johnson Distinguished Scholar and the chair of the department of Economics at UWG. Formerly, Dr. Smith was a research associate at the Fiscal Research Center at Georgia State University. He has advised large energy providers, the Georgia State Legislature, and private businesses.
Chief economist of the Atlanta based Southern Company, Kenneth C. Shiver provided the Georgia economic update. Shiver noted that exports in the Southeast are fundamentally linked to the global economy. He pointed out the importance of manufacturing for the region for both jobs and as a consumer of energy.
“For 15 years commercial businesses were the fastest growing customer base for electricity,” Kenneth explained. “Over the last decade this has changed, and manufacturing has surpassed all others to become the largest consumer in Georgia.”
With over 20 years of experience, Kenneth is the manager of Southern Company’s Costing, Forecasting, Load Research and Energy Analysis functions.
Closing the event, keynote speaker Mark Vitner shared his optimistic view for the national economy and presented detailed economic forecasts based on global, national, and local trends. Mark is the managing director and a senior economist at Wells Fargo. Based in Charlotte, he also writes for the company’s Monthly Economic Outlook report, the Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary, and provides regular updates on the housing markets, commercial real estate, regional economies, and inflation. His economic analysis has been featured in multiple media outlets, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg.
Mark shared his positive outlook for the nation, pointing out that while the nation has seen an upswing in the economy, the global economy has had much slower growth, especially France and Germany. He explained that the occasional volatility in the stock market is a result of geo-political events, from terrorism to Ebola, but the recovery from the economic downturn is looking up. He explained, “like the second half of a football game, the first half of the recovery was defensive struggle, and now we will begin to see gains.”
Overall, Mark's message was a positive one. About the national economic outlook he said, “We are relatively optimistic. We expect around a 3 percent growth in the fourth quarter, and the next two years will be even better.”
Sponsors for the Economic Forecast Breakfast included BB&T, Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, SBDC Georgia, Southwire, Tanner Health System, and Wells Fargo. Co-sponsors for the event include Advantage Office Solutions, AgSouth Farm Credit/AgSouth Mortgages, Carroll Electric Membership Corporation, Community and Southern Bank, MetroBank, Milestone Investment Management, LLC- Michael Stone, Systems and Methods, Inc., Tisinger Vance, P.C., and Valic-Cliff England Financial Advisor.
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