Arun Raha: “We are in a deep hole and coming out slowly”

Today is the Economic Review — the report that comes before the Economic and Revenue Forecast. Arun Raha, the state’s chief economist, started out by saying the state’s economy was like Seattle’s sports scene: “It mostly sucks but there are some bright spots and we all hope things will get better.”*

He also said we’re “in a deep hole and coming out slowly.”

Raha won’t give out a revenue forecast number today — that will happen at the Nov. 18 meeting.

Raha also said gold is facing a bubble. He showed two graphs that indicate that the price of gold has shadowed other economic indicators in previous recessions. If that trend holds, the “gold bubble” could burst anytime between now and two or more years.

Raha made a joke about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world in 2012, to which Sen. Craig Pridemore later alluded. “So it sounds like at the next meeting, you’re going to tell us something that would make us wish for the end of the world.”

*Thanks to Chris Mulick for assistance on this quote.

Tags: economic review