NORWICH – Officials in the areas of business, nonprofit and local government gathered at the American Legion Post 189 in Norwich on Wednesday for the annual Economic Forecast Breakfast sponsored by NBT Bank and Commerce Chenango.

Every year, the Economic Forecast Breakfast provides a venue for leaders from a broad gamut to discuss the major triumphs and tribulations of the past year, and to focus on the potential challenges for the year ahead. Branching off last year’s theme of “cautious optimism,” keynote speaker Kenneth Entenmann, Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer for NBT Bank, centered this year’s message on discovering why, despite seemingly good economic growth, consumers today are still on alert.

According to Entenmann, the economy today has seen more prosperity than it has in years. Unemployment is down, the housing market has shown resiliency, and interest rates are still low, he said.

“We’ve got lift off. Things are better since the crisis of 2008 and 2009 – but it just doesn’t feel that well,” said Entenmann, pointing to reasonable economic growth in the last year. “Everyone is still cautious and kind of struggling a little bit. So the question is, why? There’s still a great amount of uncertainty.”