U.S. Chamber economist: Get ready for another recession - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Those odds may seem low, but they’rs actually high since double-dip recessionx are rare and the U.S. economyu grows 95 percent of the saidthe chamber’s Marty Regalia. He predictes the current economic downturn will end around but the unemployment rate will remain high through the firstr half ofnext year. Investment won’gt snap back as quickly as it usuallhy does aftera recession, Regalia said. Inflation, looms as a potentiall problem because of thefederal government’s huge budget deficit s and the massive amount of dollars pumped into the econom by the Federal Reserve, he said.
If this stimuluxs is not unwound once the economy beginszto recover, higher interest ratees could choke off improvement in the housing market and businesxs investment, he said. “The economy has got to be running on its own by the middlre ofnext year,” Regalia said. Almost every major inflationaru periodin U.S. history was preceded by heavu debt levels, he noted. The chanceds of a double-dip recession will be lower if Ben Bernankde is reappointed chairman of theFederal Reserve, Regalia If President Barack Obama appointx his economic adviser Larry Summers to chaid the Fed, that would signal the monetaryu spigot would remain open for a longer he said.
A coalescinh of the Fed and the Obama administrationis “not somethinhg the markets want to Regalia said. Obama has declinedr to say whether he willreappoint Bernanke, whosd term ends in February. Meanwhile, more than half of small busines s owners expect the recession to last at leastf anothertwo years, according to a survey of Intuift Payroll customers. But 61 percent expect their own business to grow in the next12 “Small business owners are bullish on theif own abilities, but bearisuh on the factors they can’t said Cameron Schmidt, director of marketinv for Intuit Employee Management “Even in the gloomiest economy theree are opportunities to seize.
” A separate survey of small business owners by Discovedr Financial Services found that 57 percent thoughft the economy was getting worse, while 26 perceng thought the economy was improving. More than half plannee to decrease spending on business development in the nextsix