Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau
May & June 2017
11
RDA Happenings
“The future aint what it used to be” – Yogi Berra.
At a recent Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) meeting, the speaker was
Peter Zeihan, a geo-capital strategist specializing in demographics, global energy, and
security. By utilizing geography and demographics, he gives an understanding and predicts
what the future global political trends have on markets, and economic trends.
Two of his books are, “The Accidental Super Power: The Next Generation of American
Preeminence, and the Coming Global Disorder”; and “The Absent Super Power: The Shale
Kent Heermann
President, Regional
Development Association
of East Central Kansas
Revolution and a World Without America” are quite interesting reading.
Several of the take a way’s from this presentation were that the United States will have
enough oil and natural gas supplies from the U.S. and Canada to be totally independent of
other global oil and natural gas suppliers.
The breakeven cost of U.S. Shale Oil in 2012 was $90 a barrel and in January 2017 the
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOC. of EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
The Regional Development
Association of East Central
Kansas (RDA) is the lead
economic development
organization for Lyon
County and the Emporia
area. The four members
of the RDA are the
Emporia Area Chamber
of Commerce, Emporia
Enterprises, the City
of Emporia, and Lyon
County. The RDA is located
with the Emporia Area
Chamber of Commerce
and the Convention and
Visitors Bureau at the
Trusler Business Center,
719 Commercial, Emporia,
KS 66801. Kent Heerman
RDA President, can be
contacted at 620-342-1600
ext. 16, or kheermann@
emporiarda.org.
breakeven cost was $37 a barrel. The only lower cost per barrel oil is from Saudi Arabia,
but if you add trans portation costs, would be higher.
The U.S. Demographic age groups, in the 25 to 29, 30 to 34, and 35 to 39 age ranges are
much better off than Japan, North Korea, and Russia, because these three countries have
an aging population not a growing population.
The U.S. is the largest global consumer economy, whereas other nations will be lagging
behind. Lower energy, with lower oil and natural gas costs, will in turn lower the U.S.
production cost for high energy consumption industries. With the abundance of supply,
and low cost of natural gas, chemicals now made from petroleum will now be made with
natural gas at a much lower cost. Three compelling reasons the U.S. economy will grow.
The U.S. financial markets and banks are much more stable and have less non-
performing loans. U.S. financial centers continue to attract more global money.
There is a high potential for more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coming to the United
States in the coming years. With the potential for corporate tax cuts and lowering the
tax liability on those global corporations whose profits are overseas, there is tremendous
potential for U.S. growth.
This past month in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Commerce, and Hostess
Brands, there were two Made in Kansas events. An event with Hostess Brands was held at
the state capital, and then a celebration was held at Flint Hills Technical College.
Hostess Brands Emporia facility has over 600 employees today. They continue to
reinvest in the Emporia facility with state of the art technology utilizing more robotic
applications for packaging, and finishing products. They also mentioned that an expansion
of the receiving area would occur in the fall of 2017.