Heartland's economy is thriving, expert says

By Sara Ganus

Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard delivered a promising 20-year economic forecast Tuesday for the country — and for the American heartland.


"The success and enthusiasm that you're seeing and living every day in Oklahoma City is not an anomaly, and it's not going to go away in the next year or two,” he told about 280 business professionals at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.

"We are in a generation-long boom, and it's going to benefit communities like this.”

As the keynote speaker for the Commercial Real Estate Council's 10th annual market forecast, Karlgaard said that even though almost two-thirds of Americans believe the economy is "on the wrong footing,” nothing could be more false.

"We are without a doubt living in the time of the greatest business model change that anybody alive has ever had to contend with,” he said.

Forbes estimates that $3 trillion worth of venture capital and private equities are in today's global capital markets, Karlgaard said.

While it's no surprise the urban coasts often lure businesses out of the heartland, Karlgaard said the shrinking information gap and the access to markets and talent now available throughout the country are changing that — something he calls "an absolute revolution.”

"It means that the opportunity to do anything you want to do in the heartland now becomes, I think, a real possibility,” he said.

So what links some of the existing thriving heartlands in America?

Education is a big factor in this growth, Karlgaard said.

Not only does early education count, but college towns throughout the heartland are also going to be big winners in the 21st century economy, he said.

Tracy Markum, president of the Markum/Klontz Group Inc. and the council's president, said Karlgaard's speech was important because people in Oklahoma need to hear about the state's economic potential. For him, it was refreshing to hear that people are noticing Oklahoma.

"Before, the list of places to relocate a business or start a new business, now Oklahoma City is on that list — Norman, Oklahoma City, Midwest City, even places you wouldn't think of like Lawton and Durant,” Markum said.
"So people really are noticing that we have something amazing to offer.”

Whoo Hoo.. I love to read articles like this!