ECONOMY: Regional economy poised for growth, panel says
By: Jeff Rowe

Business leaders scheduled to speak at Thursday's State of the Region presentation said they expect the economy to improve in coming months, but that San Diego County companies face challenges in global competition, water and health care.

Reo Carr, editor in chief of the San Diego Business Journal, Michael Murphy, president of San Diego-based nonprofit Sharp HealthCare, and Mark Stuart, Southern Region chief of the state Department of Water Resources all are scheduled to make lunchtime presentations at the San Diego North Chamber of Commerce event at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

Carr, Murphy and Stuart outlined their expected presentations for the North County Times; a fourth speaker scheduled for the event, Col. Dave Myers, the deputy commander of Marine Corps Installations West, declined a similar request.

Excepts from the planned presentations:

Carr on competition

"The economy has done a reset," he said. "The next economy will be meaner, leaner, greener, keener and connected."

Carr explained that by meaner, he means a more competitive economy, global in scope.

Leaner is a reality of the new competitiveness, he said, and leaner companies also will be proponents of green ---- environmentally friendly ---- practices that save resources, that are more efficient and save money.

By "keener," Carr said companies will have to be smarter and make their customers smarter.

"Connected" refers to smart use of the "unprecedented access to information about our business and the world around us," he said.

The post-recession economy will be a "harsh competitive environment (with) little room for error," he said.

Nonetheless, Carr said he is looking forward to the emerging economy "with great anticipation. San Diego County has a wonderful infrastructure; we have the resources to adapt to the new economic reality."

Murphy on health care

A key element of reviving our regional and national economic well-being is solving the health insurance problem, Murphy said.

The Medicare trust fund will be bankrupt in 2017, health care is 17.5 percent of gross domestic product and growing, and about 48 million Americans lack medical insurance, he said. Moreover, the number of uninsured is growing, he said.

At the same time, "employers and individuals are screaming about the cost of health care," he said.

"Health care is a very big complex problem that does not have a solution that every shareholder will like," he said.

"Everyone needs to be covered," Murphy said. "We're all ultimately paying." Somehow, he said, "we have to find coverage for all with responsibility share by all and not cost-shifted."

Stuart on water

The county and region must adapt to new water realities, Stuart said.

"I'm worried about the future," he said. Much of California's economy has been based on the availability of cheap water, but in the new economy, water will be more scarce, he said.

"The slack in the system is disappearing," Stuart said. And while rainfall thus far in the wet season is about normal, he said, the state's reservoirs stand at about a third of capacity.

San Diego County is fortunate in that it gets its water from diverse sources, but further reductions in supply loom. That means farmers and the biotech industry face the reality of less water in coming years.

"We're (now) hand-to-mouth in water use," he said. "Deliveries are getting harder and harder."

Reservations for the State of the Region presentation closed earlier this week.