Economist on effects of coronavirus: Comes like a freight train, but expect it to go away quickly

The traditional definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth but the worldwide shock of the Coronavirus has forced that model to stand on its head.

According to economist Elliot Eisenberg, president of Graphs and Laughs, LLC, and wildly popular presenter at CU Direct’s annual conference over the last few years, the shelter in place edicts issued by many government bodies have plunged the U.S. economy directly into a recession.

“Household consumption has fallen off a cliff, he said during a recent webinar presented by Origence (a CU Direct brand). A hurricane stops all production and consumption, but it only lasts a few days. This goes on and on for weeks.”

Reason for Optimism

With that said, Dr. Eisenberg pointed to two pieces of relatively good news. First, based on the experience of China and South Korea two countries that were hit hard in the early days of the outbreak, Coronavirus seems to take about 40 days to run its course.

 

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