Ohio Bankers League's 2011 Economic Summit

This past Tuesday, Steve Layman and I attended the Ohio Bankers League's 2011 Economic Summit as the guest of Paul Thompson of First Federal Savings of Newark, Ohio. Attending the luncheon and listening to the extensive program was very interesting and the highlight of my week.

The three noted speakers at the event were David Goodman, Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce, Mark Kvamme, Director of the Ohio Department of Development and Dr. Mark Schweitzer, Senior V.P. & Director of Research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Often during the past three years of our current recession I am asked to compare today to the last major recession. People look at me funny when I respond with that it was harder the last time around. The chart above was one of Dr. Schweitzer's many power point slides indicating the current Payroll Employment Losses compared to 1980 & 1981.

Dr. Schweitzer gave the group hope that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There was only one thing Tuesday better than the meeting: spending two hours with two excellent business people in the car. Listening to the Federal Reserve V.P., Paul and Steve all in one day, jumped my knowledge by a significant percentage.



Thank you to Dr. Schweitzer & Kyle Fee for responding so quickly to my request for the photo above.