US economy will ‘pay a price’ in 2023 from ‘misguided’ pandemic policies, expert warns

First Trust Advisors chief economist Brian Wesbury issued a bleak warning on the U.S. economy, Friday, telling “Varney & Co.” the federal government’s spending response to the COVID pandemic has put the nation getting ready to a “average” recession akin to the financial downturn of the early Nineties.

BRIAN WESBURY: I shouldn’t be smiling about this, however hey, you realize, individuals began calling me a permabull, as a result of I used to be bullish over the 12-13 years main as much as COVID. I don’t know what else I used to be imagined to be, however I’m not bullish anymore. I feel COVID and the response that we did throughout the pandemic, you realize, the equal of a automotive accident. We broke our leg, the ambulance exhibits up, they usually pump us filled with morphine. That’s all the cash printing, that’s all of the borrowing and paying people not to work. Then you go to the emergency room, you’re laying on the gurney, the doc says, “How are you feeling?,” and also you go, “I really feel nice,” however as soon as that morphine begins to put on off, you don’t really feel nice. 

LOOMING DEBT CEILING SHOWDOWN RISKS TRIGGERING ‘SELF-INFLICTED’ RECESSION FOR US ECONOMY

So as we roll into 2023, I feel that morphine is sporting off. Obviously, the Fed is reversing course, slowing cash development, and elevating rates of interest. We’re not handing out stimulus checks anymore, and I feel we’re going to pay a value. That’s the recession that we see this 12 months. Now it’s not 2008 and it’s not 1999-2000, the market is just not massively overvalued. We should not have over-leveraged banks, however I feel a recession like 1990-1991. Unemployment may go to six% or 6.5%. It will be a average sort of traditionally common recession after we pay again for the pandemic insurance policies that I feel had been misguided.