Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President speaks at Fargo summit on the changing economy

WEST FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Over the last several years, the economy has been significantly impacted by the actions of people. According to Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari, this trend is expected to continue.

“This part of America is structurally short of workers. I hear about affordable housing, I hear about affordable childcare, and I hear about we can’t get the workers that we need. Yesterday for the first time in ten years, I heard businesses in North Dakota tell me we’re fully staffed,” said Kashkari.

One of the biggest factors that has affected businesses is the use of artificial intelligence. While Kashkari believes in the use of AI, the Federal Reserve uses it only in a controlled manner due to confidentiality with their data.

“Crypto has been around for more than a decade, and it’s utterly useless. AI has not been around very long, and people are using it every day. And so this is demonstrating to me that this thing is real and it has real long-term potential for the economy, opposed to crypto,” said Kashkari.

Several small businesses in North Dakota have started accepting Bitcoin as a source of payment. But Kashkari questions the payment method and is skeptical about its future.

“My question to all the Bitcoin enthusiasts is, who is actually using it? Who actually wants to use it? And why would I use that as opposed to a credit card, or cash, or check, or any of the other traditional payment methods? And nobody’s been able to explain that to me. So, every year that I ask these questions, and I don’t get any good answers, my skepticism grows,” said Kashkari.

While the economy continues to change, Kashkari’s advice for businesses is to focus on what you can control and not everything else.