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" With all the business closings that sit vacant on Veterans pkwy something isn't right. "

" This business week author is using the common jounalism scare tactic to create buzz on an already stressful time using facts that are not justified just to sell the article and advertising space. "

" You do not have that kind of greed at State Farm or Country. They don't have shareholders to report to. They run an insurance business how it should be ran and that is for the consumer...the policyholder. I think it should be federal law that everyone take personal finance 101 before being granted a HS diploma and if you don't have a HS diploma you should not be granted credit on any type of financing. Too many short term sighted, instant gratification individuals out there. They look at numbers and growth with little consideration to the impacts 5-10 years down the road. Too many people take out loans they should not and they should also do away with pay day loan institutions. Laws serve 2 purposes, protect the innocent from others and protect stupid people from themselves. Unfortunately some stupid people need regulated. "

" I wonder how many who posted on here actually understand finance and what exactly happened. The really falls down to how some companies run their business. Both State Farm and Country are mutuals which means they do not report to stock holders (thank god) and I know for a fact that both invest primarily in long term conservative investments such as bonds. AIG invested in mortgaged backed securities and not all banks jumped on the band wagon to think everyone and anyone should have a house thus throwing credit to the wind. This study was based stictly on % of workers in a given sector and not how strong the companies are. Unfortunately, greed, stock prices etc entice some executives to make selfish short term decision with little consideration for the future. "

" I think it's a little comical that they'd list Bloomington and Normal as separate communities, since they're essentially the same community/economy.

They did the same thing with Urbandale and West Des Moines, Iowa, which are simply two pieces of the much bigger Des Moines pie.

Regardless, this just seems like a list largely consisting of towns with a lot of insurance business. "

" The local officials are speaking truthfully and not ignoring the facts. The Business Week analysis is only a ranking of what percentage of local jobs are in the finance/insurance/real estate sector. It stops there and takes no account of the individual companies' (mostly State Farm and Country Financial here) financial strength. It is true that they both have stock market investments that are down with the recent market troubles but every insurance company has that. Both companies have sufficient equity available to offset these stock market declines. They are both conservative companies that do not underwrite the coverages that got AIG into trouble. State Farm's equity is in the tens of billions of dollars so it would be one of the last financial institutions to go under if the crisis gets worse. If it did, every person in this community would suffer. Reading the messages, its almost like some posters here want things to go bad for our town. "

" re McLovin It: I was thinking the same thing when I read that..I also know that the arena is already over $250,000.00 in the hole.. Its to bad the pantagraph wont do a story on it anymore. "They dont see it as news worthy any longer".. "

" I won't get into specifics, but I've seen the numbers, and I know for a fact that State Farm can cover all of its losses, both normal and catastrophic, with only the income of premiums. The company does invest in the stock market to capitalize on its profits in order to shore up a surplus for those occasional huge catastrophes, but if it had to, the company could survive on premiums alone. I also want to reiterate from the article, State Farm is mutual which means it's not tied to the stock market for its principal funding. BusinessWeek is only looking at relatively small towns with higher financial institutions per capita. I believe they are overlooking quite a bit. "

" I love it. A few scattered comments and now B-N is in depression as exhibited by 91241's comments (not your fault, it's the baseless fears of the others). DaveII, that is the biggest load of garbage I've seen disguised as a coherent perspective. At least you can tell whodathunkit's post for what it is, yours pretends to have some basis in fact.

Insurance companies like our local entities are HIGHLY regulated in how much liquidity they need on reserve and what they can invest the excess in, unlike their Wall Street investment bank siblings. "

" Okay chicken littles, remember Black Friday in 1987? That was over and forgotten in two weeks. The market is self-correcting no matter how the government is involved. Darwin rules! "

" It has been 1975 since I lived in Mclean Co. What has happened? I always thought this to be one of the most solid areas in the country. Everyone in the county knows all the assets of the area. I have no idea who the leaders are of the area, but they better knock on the doors of some of the oldtimers. Gloom and doom broadcasting helps nothing. "

" DaveII is absolutely right. However there are regulations on how insurance companies can invest their money, so the majority of investments are low risk. But with what's happening on WallSt., that may not matter. Fannie and Freddie securuties were considered pretty low risk. This is where the bailout comes in folks! As much as us taxpayers don't want to foot the bill for corporate screw-ups, it may save us all. "

" It will be interesting to see how the balance sheets for these 2 major employers look at the end of the year with the market down like it is and the BK's that have already been filed. B/N is in for some rough times as homes are not moving and no end is in site. We will start to see retailers and restaurants start closing which will lead to serious issueswith commercial real estate values. Marginal players will be going bye bye and some banks will be in for some very challenging times!!! "

" 4mama, I am looking at the JBC website. Could you provide more information to see that map.....Thanks "

" These talking heads from government and HR/PR of financial/insurance services providers indeed have their heads in the sand (or other equally dark location). SF and Country derive their claims paying ability from investment income and appreciation. So, when the stock market is down 25% for the year and interest rates below 5% and their current bond portfolio market value (regardless of quality) is way below their book value, guess what....claims paying ability begins to be an issue if a major claims event occurs; employee pension contributions skyrocket, destroying departmental budgets; no new capital investment can occur; new business drops to near zero (who wants to or can move their assets from one firm to another when their balance is down 25% or more); no new business or a drop equals no new hiring or reduction in force to help balance their budgets. And, who wants to buy any B/N real estate with the emarld ash boarer as a new neighbor along with the oppressive taxation on forever non appreciating values. So, 'whoda...' is on the mark...more fluff and 'boy... don't we feel good today!' "

" The reason it is going to be hard hit is because even though the residents of B-N deny it, the towns exist as a shopping point for the surrounding farming communities. It really has nothing else going for it. With the economy hurting the way it is, people are not going to be shopping near as much as they used to, thus the town is going to lose alot of revenue. Maybe it is time the residents realize what the town actually is, and quit pretending it is some thriving metropolis. "

" whodathunkit - The problem is, no financial experts wrote the article - all they did was pull some demographic information and say "because a bunch of people in this town work in finance or insurance, the area is in trouble". It's just not that simple... for exactly the same reasons stated in this article... and that I outlined in a post regarding this topic yesterday. "

" For once I will agree with Mayor Stockton. Business Week should be ashamed for putting out such a weak based study/list.

To whodathunkit: If you want to call these people experts, go ahead, it is your right. That is not the term I would use to describe anyone who put out trash like this. Time will tell. "

" Can we say DENIAL? "

" Mr. Koos is right about one thing, B-N had a reputation for being fiscally conservative. That went right out the window with the likes of the arena, the Uptown Project, uptown hotel, etc. "

" To:wohdathunkit

Thank you Sara Palin! Next time give some substance. "

" Right - let's ignore financial experts and stick our heads in the sand, and hope for the best. That worked out well for Wall Street, didn't it? Typical fluff from our fluffy government and State Farm officials. "