Survey: Growth slows in rural Midwest, West

Friday, June 22, 2012

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Economic growth has continued to slow in rural areas of 10 Midwestern and Western states because of the problems in Europe and elsewhere, according to a report released Thursday.

The overall index on the monthly survey of bankers declined to 56.7 in June, from May's 58.5. That's the lowest level for the index in 2012, but any score above 50 still suggests growth in the months ahead.

"International economic problems are affecting us here," said Dale Bradley, CEO of Citizens State Bank in Miltonvale, Kan.

The survey covers rural areas of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, said the results suggest that areas dependent on agriculture and energy will generally continue growing, but at a slower rate.

Goss said the global economic slowdown, combined with a stronger U.S. dollar, have pushed agriculture and energy prices lower and hurt exports.

The farmland price index remained at a strong level of 60 in June, but that was down from 64.6 in May. The farm-equipment sales index also declined to 54.7 in June, from last month's 65.1.

The loan volume index jumped to 64.2 in June, from May's 56.9, as farmers sought more loans.

"As farmland prices and farm-equipment sales have risen, so have farmers' financing demands," Goss said.

The checking deposit index sank to 55.3 in June, from May's 62.9. The index for savings instruments dipped to 38.9 in June, from May's 41.7.

The hiring index remained at strong at 59.1 in June, which was slightly below May's 59.2. Goss said job growth varies widely across the region.

The bankers seem to remain confident about the economy over the next six months because the confidence index registered 58.5 in June. That's down from May's 60.2, but still well above the neutral score of 50.

The June home sales index climbed to 66.4, from May's 65.2. The retail sales index slipped to 54.6 in June, from 54.7 in May.

Online:

Creighton Economic Forecasting Group: http://www.outlook-economic.com

More like this story

Littleinvestor 12 months ago

It's going to be a tough climb out of the depression we are in (yes, that is what it is.) It took a long time to get here and I'm convinced absolutely no one knows what to do to get us out of it. I suspect radical redesign of economic models is needed to deal with disappearing resources, particularly fresh water and fossil fuels, and eventually a rapidly decreasing world population because at some point Ma Nature is going to figure out how to kill a third to half of us off in a way that we can't stop. Has to be done. The earth is overstocked. All economic models on this planet depend on an ever increasing population and they will not be able to cope.

dokeus6 12 months ago

I for see a nuclear war to take care of this issue or how about EMP from the sun to wipe out all of the electronic gadgets we have. PURE CHAOS will ensue.

asb 12 months ago

You're drooling there Doke.

asb 12 months ago

Not to go all pie-in-the-sky on you, but consider that the limits are only resources and energy, and just 200 miles up there're no limits on either. The trick will be to slow down the burn while focusing intensely on establishing enough people in space to ignite an economy that can grow all it wants to. This is the model that worked for Europe for hundreds of years, and there's no way to imagine the scale of an economy limited only by the sun and Brazillions of tons of every material we'd need for thousands of years. Utopia? Hardly. But it IS our future.

Sequoia 12 months ago

Dispersed generation is the way of the future. Solar panels and wind capture on every single roof. Collect energy from the tides and river currents. Dismantle the nuclear arsenals and burn the fuel in small high-tech nuclear reactors as a bridge fuel. Every house, building and city is a power plant. Every electric car is collectively a giant battery. Utility companies shift from generating and selling power to managing the grid to move power from where it is generated or stored to where it is needed.

We'll either be selling this technology, or buying it, or grinding to a halt.

viktorkowski 12 months ago

we have villages in denmark that are completely self sufficient as far as generating their own energy by wind and solar. and by villages I mean large towns. They are able to do this by hugely subsidizing renewable energy, which is exactly the opposite of the united states.

Sequoia 12 months ago

Ha. Way more people than that think this tree is just nuts. (Get it?).

But, the Midwest would be the perfect place to start. Plenty of sun and wind, and a central location to begin building the new electric grid.

Soon, after the Ogallala Aquifer dries up from being tapped for massive agricultural farms, commercial farming will no longer be possible on the Great Plains. They'll return to the grasslands, like they were before.

What comes next? Will we plan for the future, or wait until circumstances force our hand?

asb 12 months ago

Even with a quick move away from carbon fuel, there's still a couple of major problems, Malthus was correct about the limits of resources, even if his timimg was off. Rare earths, minerals, metals, food, fresh water, clean air - all are running out. Even our fuel cells will compete with your lungs for oxygen. A tightly controlled economy, far more tyranical than any today, could extend our resources and control our population growth for awhile, but only those selling the last bits of the Earth would want that. Moving off-planet in numbers high enough to drag the economy with them would make the last few hundred years of exploitation of the planet look like completely planned societies. No, we're not capable of managing a finite environment, and maybe we shouldn't be, lets just work our rears off getting to the biggest new world we'll ever see and let it rip.

JCLifer 12 months ago

You people are nuts. We have 200-400 years of oil and natural gas right here under our soil. We also have over 500 years of coal deposits. We will be fine until we get more nukuler plants built.

If you want to clean up the environment, your efforts would be better spent in China, India, Russia, Mexico, and the third world countries that all pollute way more than we do.

viktorkowski 12 months ago

actually the united states is the worlds largest polluter. China, which has a potential to be a large polluter is at least investing in renewable energy to at offset some of that future pollution. as far as having 200-400 years of oil no scientist could confirm that. The cheap oil is gone. which will have a impact on food sources because ag relies on cheap oil for farming.

viktorkowski 12 months ago

its all those new car drivers. although they are very early adopters of electric. many of their cities have a seperated bike/scooter only lane and you would be surprised at how many of those scooters are electric. I give the aussies a pass. They also heavily subsidize solar as well

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