The Go To Guys

I was pleased to see King Banaian on the cover of my Saint Cloud State University Alumni Magazine 'Outlook'. The article shares the level of credibility that exists within SCSU's Economics departments as folks looking for answer men during the tumult of our economic situation:

Banaian, who has participated in more than 40 off-campus speaking engagements and countless media interviews in the past year, jokes that he kind of misses his life as the “Maytag repairman,” referring to the relatively stable years before the economy plummeted and the public started clamoring for answers.

“Fifteen years ago this topic was unsexy,” said Banaian. Now that many of the unfavorable circumstances he’s been teaching about – and some the books didn’t cover – have come about, the incredible knowledge of local fiscal data and business climate he and MacDonald have amassed makes their kind of expertise a hot commodity.

“We always wanted to get out of the Ivory Tower,” Banaian said. “Now we’re being invited out.”

What's King's perspective of the economy:

Banaian’s perspective on the economy:

“The Fed has emptied the holster. They’ve used all the tools at their disposal.”

“In the Panic of 1907, the last panic before the formation of the Federal Reserve, banks were teetering on collapse. J. Pierpont Morgan gathered bankers in his home and said to them: ‘I’m putting money in. Won’t you join me?’ Now bankers seem to expect government to do it.”

“Banks have changed. Big banks have gone into other stuff. Not all the banks are like the Bailey Building and Loan in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.”

Some Banaian predictions from the Winter Institute:

1. Oil prices will come up
2. Mortgage rates will be stable
3. Keep an eye on timber prices, and
4. St. Cloud’s economic base to build on: Health, education, business services and transportation

1) After bottoming out in late December, Oil prices did climb modestly before taking a tumble over the last few weeks

2) Mortgage rates HAVE been stable through the winter and Spring. We are now, however, seeing an up tick that some may say is a sign of inflation due to the influx of monies into the economy via the stimulus funds

3) from what I can find, timber prices look to still be dropping do to lowered demand. One can assume that housing stock is still high, therefore new construction is still at a low.

King is a pretty spot on guy, especially when you get him away from his NARNiac friends and isn't influenced by his ScaifeNet contract *grin*

Flash