Local credit union’s 78th annual meeting

The subject was the economy as the Bay Ridge Federal Credit Union held its 78th annual meeting at the Bay Ridge Manor on April 4.

“We try not to make it another boring meeting; we try to make it a cocktail party,” said Mike Garthaffner, vice president of the credit union.

At the meeting, President Gene Brody updated members on the state of the economy and shared his thoughts on why we have not seen a faster recovery from the recession.

“Government policies have focused only on short-run changes and gimmicks, like cash for clunkers and first-time home buyer credits which are good short term programs, rather than focusing on creating long term conditions that are favorable to investment and education and that raise productivity and wages,” Brody contended, adding that Washington politicians need to put politics aside to focus on solutions.

“We can all hope that these indicate better times and higher growth ahead, but unless we move to a set of economic policies that are aimed at growing the economy, and move away from appealing to special interests and refusing to tax those with absurdly high incomes and promoting social agendas, this slow recovery may fail to see us return to a long term growth trend,” he concluded.