Economic Recovery On The Way But We're Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Close to a hundred Ocean and Monmouth County stakeholders braved the torrential rain Monday for a summit on economic recovery. The event kicked off at 8:30 a.m. and ran till 1:00 inside the gymnasium on the main campus at Ocean County College in Toms River. Several guest speakers and panels discussed a wide variety of topics and all in all, it was an informative day. However, the outlook for many sectors of the economy seem to not be undergoing a recovery and we may have to wait a little longer for things to improve. The goal was to assess the status of available assistance, review the impact on the various sectors and work together with associates to develop workable strategies.

One of the key components discussed is the fact that the government must intervene to jump-start the economy by convincing consumers to make large-scale purchases such as cars and homes. Promotion of energy efficiency and lending is also important for things to get better. Some at the summit were hoping to hear some good news but reaction from around the room was generally mixed.

Dr. James Hughes is the Dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers. You know him as a Rutgers Economist both on WOBM and on the Millennium Radio News Network. Hughes addressed the crowd during the national and state perspective panel.

Although Wall Street saw positive gains last week, it doesn't serve as a good gauge in regards to local economies. Hughes says "unemployment is a better way at judging the state of the economy and with very unflattering numbers released in the last few days, things are likely to get worse before they get better." He adds "we maybe seeing some slowing down in the rate of decline, so the new good news is that things are getting worse at a slower pace."

Dave Wolfe, who serves as the assistant to Ocean County President Jon Larson, was one of the principal organizers of the event. He is hopeful that things will change and we will all be able to weather the storm. He says "this is a country that has seen its share of difficulties before - especially economically - and there is a light at the end of the tunnel."

That light, according to Dr. Hughes, will probably shine through sometime later in 2009 but things will probably never return to the way they used to be. Hughes stresses the fact that people must realize these are different times and the way spending was done in the past can no longer happen that way. He says "we went through the greatest spending binge in the history of our planet and now we're paying the price for it." His advice for the public is simple - "be conservative, hang on - eventually, things will turn but don't be too optimistic all too soon as it will take time to fix."

During the small business and tourism perspective panel, Ocean County Freeholder Joe Vicari spoke since he serves as the tourism liaison. He also took time to address energy concepts. Solar energy projects in Ocean County received a total of $738,000 thanks to the federal economic stimulus package but Vicari wants to know what happens to the other sectors who need aid. Vicari says the total they received isn't enough and "five million dollars would be a better total because it would allow them to do new projects and create jobs."

Each panel stressed the importance of job creation as being the most valuable asset when it comes to economic recovery. Moderator David Wintrode told me that the panel plans to meet once again in the not-too-distant future to discuss the key components once again and make a master plan of attack.

by Jason Allentoff