SYRACUSE – Kosciusko Leadership Academy met Tuesday at the Syracuse Town Center.
Mike Kubacki, chairman and chief executive officer of Lake City Bank, and Dr. John Teevan, executive director of the Weber School at Grace College, were the guest speakers for the “Economics of Kosciusko County” session.
Kubacki spoke on the national banking crisis and “how we got to where we are now.”
He explained that there are many misconceptions and misinformation going around. Kubacki explained that the credit crisis was not the fault of small commercial banks like those in Warsaw.
He shared there are differences between commercial banks and investment banks. Commercial banks don’t speculate with other’s money, they hold onto money for a long time, and exist on “Main Street”. Investment banks do speculate, turn over money a lot, make or lose lots of money usually in a 30-day period and exist on Wall Street.
In addition, Kubacki discussed the TARP program, today’s concerns about unemployment and heightened regulatory pressures.
Teevan covered the economic situation, specifically in Kosciusko County.
Referring to data taken from the Kosciusko Development Inc. website, he began with a short history of Kosciusko County’s population.
The population increased dramatically from 1840 to 1860, primarily due to the railroad coming in. Through the years the county changed from being agriculture-based to orthopaedics-based through the years.
Teevan discussed the significance of the high percentage of manufacturing jobs in Kosciusko County (33 percent) in comparison to other Indiana counties. He explained that the county is heavy into manufacturing and suggested that it needs to move more toward a technology and knowledge-based economy, including research and development.
The next KLA meeting is Feb. 14 at 7 a.m. at the Wellness Center in Warsaw.
