by Ron Quinn
On July 4th, I celebrated our country’s big birthday at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. It was my 40th consecutive run, and Adidas showered me with all kinds of fancy merch in tribute to my longtime participation. With all the attention, my confidence level was running high.
That is, until the sun rose that morning. The combination of an outdoor bake and my older age really took its toll this year. Still, I managed to jog across the finish line to earn yet another T-shirt.
My neighbors across Northeast Georgia have faced an even tougher marathon this year from incessant inflation. At 4 percent, it has torched household budgets with gas prices hitting the hardest, rising to over $4/gallon at their peak this summer.
Our diverse local economy has pushed wages higher – a welcome trend – but for many families, paychecks still haven’t kept pace with rising costs for groceries, housing and other necessities. Hourly workers have suffered the most although I’ve witnessed impacts across all household income levels.
The evidence is hard to miss at local banks where overdrafts on checking accounts and past-due loan payments are at their highest level in years. Even higher-income consumers are exhibiting more caution, trimming discretionary spending such as travel by choosing destinations they can reach by car rather than paying higher airfares.
With mortgage rates still over 6 percent, potential home buyers also remain flat-footed in this market. For young people looking to settle down, the challenge is even greater to afford a first-time home at $350,000 to $400,000 minimum in Hall County. So, it should be no surprise that area apartments, the next best option, are benefiting from an occupancy rate around 97 percent – even with busy construction of new units and higher rents.
Despite these financial obstacles, I remain optimistic. We may not be defeating inflation but we are enduring it. Like Americans everywhere, we are a resilient people – and just like the ongoing drought and high temps, I believe a cooler season is just around the corner.
Gas prices are already headed down in the right direction (as long as the Iran war doesn’t flare up again, and we’ve seen troubling signs in recent days). At my home, I’ve been paying a fuel surcharge on my sanitation bill but am hopeful to see that extra expense (along with similar fees from landscaping and food delivery services) erased soon with the continuation of lower prices at the pump.
No matter how you feel about the tariffs, there is growing evidence of more domestic investment in manufacturing – which should further bring down prices on consumer goods in the long run.
You may also have noticed less talk lately from economists about a possible U.S. recession, while I’ve long said that our region and state would fare better than most of the rest of the country in any economic slowdown.
So, while we may not have much control over the cost of living, I have no doubt that, like me, we’ll keep running the race to the finish – which will certainly feel much more satisfying than winning another Peachtree Road Race T-shirt.
(Ron Quinn, president and CEO of Peach State Bank & Trust, serves as the Georgia delegate for the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) and is former chairman of the Community Bankers Association of Georgia).