SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Many people are concerned about economic downturn marking the beginning of 2023.
But Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at University of Illinois Springfield, Kenneth Kriz said there is no need to panic.
"Right now, their base prediction for 2023 is slower growth, but still growth in the economy," said Kriz. "So we don't see the bottom falling out. Certainly in terms of a strong recession, there might be something more mild at the start of the year. But by the end of the year, we should be well on our way back toward kind of the long term trend in growth."
Kriz said panic has come from the fact that there were so many economic extremes during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the economy is trying to right itself back to a normal pattern.
"We're maybe a little bit more sensitive to it now," said Kriz. "But it really isn't a sign of doom and gloom, it's really a sign more of maybe an adjustment back to normality."
Kriz said consumer prices have dropped .6% from October to November and gas prices are continuing to get lower. He said the country learned from the 2008 recession and there are barriers in place to prevent a future recession.
"A lot of the things that are in place now that we've done to protect the financial industry have helped us kind of avoid another 2008," said Kriz. "So a lot of the regulations that were put into place post-financial crisis were things that really helped us to not have a similar thing happen this time."
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