2015: 'The Year of Normalization'

Springfield Business Development Corp. held its annual meeting Feb. 4 at the University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center, where it introduced its 2015 board president and featured a keynote speaker from cable channel CNBC who was bullish on this year’s economy.

The numbers tell the story of 2014 for the business-development arm of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce: 10 projects, representing 227 new jobs, $7.4 million in new payroll and estimated capital investments of $109.5 million.

Looking ahead, and on a broader scale, event keynote speaker Marci Rossell, chief economist for CNBC, said 2015 would be “the year of normalization.”

“When we look back at this year later on, we will see this as the turning-point year where things had gone from really bad to normal,” Rossell said, projecting stabilization in national monetary policies, labor and energy markets would shake off the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

Monetary policy has been out of whack for years as the Federal Reserve has worked to hold down interest rates and keep money moving, she said.

“When there’s a financial crisis, and the financial house is on fire, the only thing the central bank can and should do is drive the money truck up to the economy, and spray money all over everything. And then they clean up the mess later,” she said. “And it worked.”

She said the Fed could increase interest rates before the end of the year, but Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen would telegraph her intentions well in advance, and with an economy humming, few will notice.

That’s, in large part, because people will be employed and gas will be cheaper than it’s been in years.

While Rossell expects the price of oil will bump up, new drilling technologies aren’t going away, so short supplies won’t appear for the next couple of decades. Oil is currently hovering around $50 a barrel, and Rossell expects the sweet spot to settle around $65 a barrel.

“It’s not going to be $4 a gallon anytime soon,” she said.

With national unemployment continuing its slow but steady downward trend in recent years – most recently 5.7 percent in January – Rossell said companies will soon be fighting for employees as millennials start families and make their first big career changes.

“There will be a mad scramble for talent in the next three years,” she said.    

Chamber President and CEO Matt Morrow said he appreciated Rossell’s depth of analysis.

“I was not surprised by the message on workforce,” Morrow said “That’s an enormous priority for the chamber of commerce.”

“We’re trying to get out in front, but that’s a problem everywhere as she articulated.”

The event also signaled a change in SBDC leadership.

Outgoing board President Gary Powell, an attorney and local partner of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP, introduced commercial broker and developer Tom Rankin of Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co. as the 2015 president.[[In-content Ad]]