By Mark Coddington
mark.coddington@theindependent.com

"Things are looking bad, but not in Nebraska," said Ken Lemke, an economist with the Nebraska Public Power District. "For right now, it looks pretty good."

Lemke cited a strong farm economy, conservative lending policies and employment growth to briefly explain the positive picture in this area in his presentation as part of the Buffalo County Economic Development Council's seminar, "The State of Our Economy," in Kearney.

His views were bolstered by the largely positive reports given by Kearney leaders in several economic sectors.

Marge Lauer, executive director of the Kearney Area Ag Producers Alliance, gave a litany of statistics demonstrating the health of the area's ag economy, especially in grain prices.

She said that prosperity would continue to bleed over into other economic sectors as many farmers and ranchers make big-ticket purchases they've been putting off for several years.

"I know that there is going to be a lot of cash to stimulate the local economy," Lauer said.

Lemke said that uptick in the state's farm economy would be good for most areas of the economy as long as people were confident that commodity prices would stay relatively steady over the next several years.

But he said many might remain cautious in their spending.

"I think everybody remembers some of the collapses that have been there in past," Lemke said.

Representatives of other sectors of the area's economy also said their prospects were good for the near future.

Curt Carlson, vice chancellor for university relations at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, said the school's enrollment among undergraduates from adjacent counties was down over the past several years because of lower numbers of high school students. But its international, graduate studies and online programs have grown significantly over the same period.

"UNK has really grown up as a major university and as a major asset to this community," Carlson said.

John Allen, president and chief executive officer of Good Samaritan Health Systems in Kearney, offered a brief but bright summary of the hospital's immediate prospects, saying its patient volumes, profit margins and market shares were all increasing.

But he warned that as Baby Boomers begin drawing from Social Security and Medicare over the next few decades, politicians would face difficult decisions as those programs would reach their limits.

"This is a huge perfect storm, and this is going to be a major crisis as we head into the future," Allen said.

Sam Ferrise, president of Baldwin Filters in Kearney, said the current prosperity of manufacturing businesses depends largely on what they make and where they're selling it.

The costs of raw materials and transportation are facing upward pressure because of oil prices, but international and ag-related business markets are doing very well, he said.

Baldwin, which sells filters to trucking businesses, has had to exercise a little more fiscal discipline but hasn't been seriously affected, he said.

"It's not a bad environment out there right now," Ferrise said. "It's just not as robust as it has been."