Last month I reported that profit at the state's banks took a huge plunge in the third quarter.
According to data released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the state's banks collectively earned $136 million in the third quarter, down more than 50 percent from a $283 million profit recorded in the third quarter of 2016.
I wondered whether there was some kind of event that could explain the drop, and it turns out there was.
I heard from two bankers after the fact who pointed out that with the finalizing of the sale of Cabela's to Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's World's Foremost Bank ceased to exist as of Sept. 25.
That effectively removed the bank's third-quarter earnings from the FDIC's report.
World's Foremost Bank earned $30 million in the third quarter of 2016. Add that $30 million to this year's third-quarter state bank earnings, and the number rises to $166 million.
People are also reading…
If you also take away First National Bank's large one-time gain of nearly $86 million in the third quarter of 2016, which was reported in the original story, those two events almost account for the entire difference.
So the numbers were not nearly as shocking as they seemed at first glance.
Recession? What recession?
The Platte Institute, a Nebraska think tank that advocates conservative fiscal policies, said in a news release last month that Nebraska technically went through a recession recently because it experienced two consecutive quarters of negative growth in gross domestic product, in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year.
According to the statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state's economy contracted 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 and a whopping 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year before returning to tepid growth of 1.1 percent in the second quarter.
The Platte Institute news release quoted an economist from Texas, who said the state met the definition of a "technical recession."
But at least one local economist disagreed.
Eric Thompson, head of the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said you can't really apply national economic principles at the state level.
"I'm not sure the rule of thumb of two consecutive quarters of declining GDP equals recession really applies to state economies. That is a national rule of thumb," Thompson said in an email. "State (GDP) figures are too susceptible to fluctuations in commodity prices for that rule to apply at the state level."
Low commodity prices and a struggling ag economy appear to be what caused growth to contract in those two quarters in Nebraska.
Creighton Economics Professor Ernie Goss said the farm economy in 2017 is down 10 percent from 2016 and 37 percent from 2013.
Both economists pointed to the fact that employment has been strong despite the struggles in the farm sector. Goss pointed to strong growth in manufacturing, the financial sector and information technology.
"The economy faces challenges, but is not close to recession," Thompson said.
We're (close to) No. 1
I often use this space to give updates on significant national rankings in which Lincoln or Nebraska rank highly, and there have been several that have come through my inbox in the past month. Here's a snapshot:
* Third-most financially savvy residents ()
* Eighth-best midsize city for new grads in 2018 ()
* 14th-fastest income growth among cities ()
* Eighth-best state to live in for paying off student debt ()
Best of the Buzz
Excerpts from recent Biz Buzz posts:
* It didn't take long to fill the former Boston Market space near 48th and R streets.
A $500,000 building permit was filed Wednesday for renovations in the building. According to the permit, the work is for .
McCalister's is a Mississippi-based sandwich chain that has more than 400 restaurants in 28 states. It has one location in Omaha.
Go to to read more Biz Buzz posts.
Have a business news tip? Send it to businessnews@journalstar.com.