Eric Decker

The HOG connection David Davis, president and CEO of Menomonee Falls-based Securant Bank & Trust, got to know Walker about six years ago,...

Wisconsin is at a crossroads. The state faces a projected deficit of $2.7 billion next year. Unemployment is hovering around 7.8 percent and shows no sign of declining anytime soon. The state has shed about 70,000 jobs from the manufacturing sector, where it employs roughly 15 percent of its workforce, over the past two years.

The last few years have seen an unusually high amount of activity in the bond market, as many investors fled the Wall Street stocks that shed much of their value through 2008 and early 2009.

While the U.S. economy continues to show signs of recovery from the recession, popular sentiment lags. Consumer confidence remains low.

The former Allis-Chalmers site in West Allis has largely been redeveloped into a shopping center and an office park with health care, educational, technology and other uses taking up space formerly occupied by heavy manufacturing.

Milwaukee historian John Gurda recently authored "The Drive To Lead," a history of Butler-based Actuant Corp. that commemorates the company's 100th anniversary.

The best-known businesses in West Bend have historically been in the manufacturing and financial services sectors – companies such as Regal Ware, West Bend Mutual Insurance, Serigraph and Gehl Co.

Mixer Systems Inc. 90 Simmons Ave., Pewaukee Industry: Concrete batch plants and mixers for manufacturers of concrete pipes, support beams, pre-cast panels...

Throughout 2010, the mergers and acquisition marketplace, particularly the middle market, has seen a significant rebound from the lows realized in 2009, during the height of the Great Recession.

Maynard Steel Casting Co. 2856 S. 27th St., Milwaukee Industry: Steel castings for the mining, military contracting, transportation, energy extraction, wind...

One of the fallouts of the Great Recession was that the demand for – and the availability of – commercial lending drastically and quickly diminished.

Commercial and industrial lending in the United States fell from $1.45 trillion in July of 2009 to $1.23 trillion in July 2010. In that same time frame, commercial real estate lending fell from $1.69 trillion to almost $1.56 trillion.