AUSTIN, Texas — As schools cancel classes and restaurants revert to pickups only, a University of Texas professor and economist predicts we will likely see a recession.
"This is the most significant economic hit the country has seen since World War II," said John Doggett.
The professor of 30 years said these changes to prevent the spread of coronavirus are likely to cause a recession, but it is necessary.
"So, economically, it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better but, in theory, if this works, we might be able to see the economy turn around in a month or a month-and-a-half or two months at the latest," said Doggett.
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Until then, he said hold on to your stocks and retirement funds even if they are dropping.
"If you sell now, with the market having gone down 30% you are walking away from the money that you had," said Doggett. "It is a paper loss until you sell."
He added, "The goal is to get this thing under control in one or two months and the economy will be back to normal and the stock market will rise progressively.”
He believes our country will come out of this state of emergency stronger than when we went in.
"You are going to start seeing companies in the United States both having manufacturing and production here and production in other places," explained Doggett. "We will no longer be dependent on China because it makes no sense."
Through all of this, he wants people to know there will be better days.
"We will get through this, there will be some pain but we will get to the other side, there is no question about that," he said.
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