“You need to hold (state and federal leaders) to the fire,” said Joe Battipaglia, one of three economic ex-perts to speak at a special roundtable Tuesday.
“If you don’t, the more is going to be put upon you. It’s going to be that much harder to do business. This debt is a crushing burden that shouldn’t be allowed to run away from us.”
Battipaglia is a market strategist-private client group for Stifel Nicolaus and is also the CIO of Washington Crossing Advisors, a Stifel Nicolaus investment advisory program. He’s frequently in the national media speaking on economic issues.
Other speakers Tuesday were Tim Mescon, president of Columbus State University; and Greg Wright, regional project manager for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Battipaglia said the economy should be on the mend by now, but national banks and the federal government have prolonged the crisis.
“Small banks don’t engage in these shenanigans and the state government has to control its budget,” he said. “The big banks and the federal government don’t want to act rationally. We’ve redefined money as debt, and it’s debt that’s powering our economy. We are wed to growth at all costs.”
The current crisis has af-fected America’s ability to be competitive globally, Battipaglia said. The United States is trying to avoid becoming a copy of Japan in the 1990s. That country faced a similar crisis then and has yet to fully re-emerge as a global power.
“They’ve carried on, but on the world stage, they’re not as competitive,” he said.
Wright said Georgia “still has a great story to tell” potential businesses and industry. The state is working with Canada as a trading partner and has successfully recruited businesses to move here from other states. A business recently moved to a county in rural Georgia after its executives were there on a hunting trip.
“As communities, you need to keep developing your assets,” Wright said. “That’s your sites and buildings, your infrastructure and creating regional partnerships.”
Mescon said Georgia still has opportunity with local tourism, using Columbus and its development of Fort Benning - a recently opened infantry museum and a planned armory museum.
“Cultural tourism seems to continue on, regardless of the economy,” he said.
Regions need to work together to promote their own day trips to attract tourists and economic dollars.
“It’s affordable and doable,” Mescon said.
Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.
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