Expert warns next economic downturn will ‘be worse than the Great Depression’

Despite the strong state of the U.S. economy, some experts are issuing warnings about an impending downturn, with one saying it will be “worse than the Great Depression.”

As Murray Gunn with Elliott Wave International, a financial forecasting firm, told the New York Post: “We think the major economies are on the cusp of this turning into the worst recession we have seen in 10 years.”

And economic commentator Peter Schiff told the outlet: “We won’t be able to call it a recession, it’s going to be worse than the Great Depression. The US economy is in so much worse shape than it was a decade ago.”

The central issue behind these concerns appears to be an incredibly high debt load carried by borrowers and uncertainty over their ability to pay it back.

A recent CNN report has also sounded the alarm about the nation’s debt load but suggests that more trouble could arise from the $6.3 trillion in corporate debt more than consumer debt.

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CNN also points to the escalating trade war with China as a potential contributing factor to a corporate downturn.

As for timing, Schiff indicated to the Post that he is “forecasting a major economic downturn as early as the tail end of the Trump presidency’s first term.”

However, the president has been out promoting the strength of the U.S. economy, telling a crowd in Missouri Friday: “The stock market is up 55%… Your 401(k)s are up 50, 60, 70% in some cases.”

Trump also tweeted Saturday morning: “New Economic Records being set on a daily basis – and it is not by accident!”