Experts warn the next recession will be 'worse than the Great Depression' and predict it will hit US within two years

The experts blamed central bankers using cheap money in financial free economies for the reason global debt is now US$247 trillion compared to US$177 trillion in 2008. Photo / 123RF

The next recession could put the 2008 financial crash to shame if two experts' predictions about the worldwide debt of US$247 trillion are correct.

Expected to hit the United States within the next two years, the impact has been compared to the severe worldwide economic crisis which started 1929 and last until 1939.

"We won't be able to call it a recession, it's going to be worse than the Great Depression," economic commentator Peter Schiff, told the New York Post. "The US economy is in so much worse shape than it was a decade ago."

It means by the time President Donald Trump's first term should come to a close, the country – which saw debt more than double to US$21 trillion over a decade - could be a dire situation, the Daily Mail reported.

This is despite the lowest unemployment rate in a generation, tax cuts for businesses and the Dow hitting record highs.

Low wages are thought to be a factor in the slowing down of economic recovery.

"Obviously, there is a whole lot of optimism — but there is a very good chance the US economy is in recession within the next two years," Schiff continued. "This is already the second-longest economic expansion in history."

The Post reports that he was wrong in the past when he said the US Federal Reserve would "fail in its roundabout quantitative easing campaign to 'reflate' housing and stocks in the wake of the financial crisis."

However another expert supports his prediction that the economy is in more trouble than most realise.

"Should the [US] economy start to shrink, and our analysis suggests that it will, the high nominal levels of debt will instantly become a very big issue," Murray Gunn, head of global research at Elliott Wave International warned.

He notes that household debt in America currently outdoes what is was in 2008 and is around US$13.3 trillion. Part of that mortgage lending is near what was it was 10 years ago at more than US$9 trillion.

Student loans have more than doubled compared to a decade ago, going from US$611 billion to around US$1.5 trillion today.

Auto loans have also outdone the 2008 figure at US$1.25 trillion and credit card balances are akin to what was just before the big crash.

They blamed central bankers using cheap money in financial free economies for the reason global debt is now US$247 trillion compared to US$177 trillion in 2008.

"We think the major economies are on the cusp of this turning into the worst recession we have seen in 10 years," Gun said about the debt that's two-and-a-half times the size of the world's economy.

"People will look to central banks to help them out, but the authorities will be found wanting," Gunn continued.

"Our prediction is that central banks will go from being feted for 'saving the world' in 2008 to being vilified for being impotent in the coming deflationary crash."