Two valley CEOs, a venture capitalist and a law professor said the economy is going to get worse before it gets better, in a forum hosted by the Churchill Club Feb. 18 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

Double-digit Unemployment

“We’re in a global recession across all [industry] sectors and it could be pretty massive for many years,” said Patricia Sueltz, chief executive officer of LogLogic, which offers data log, compliance and security management solutions for businesses. Sueltz said it’s possible that the Dow Jones Industrial Average could dip below the 5,000 mark, from its current 7,500, and that the U.S. unemployment rate could reach to 12 percent to 15 percent, from its current 7.6 percent.

“This is a drastic resetting of everything,” Sueltz said.

Bill Coleman, the CEO of Cassatt Corp., a maker of software to improve the efficiency of data centers, offered a similarly stark assessment of a recession that will be worse than others. Previous recessions, such as the one following the dot-com bust earlier this decade, occurred because supply outpaced demand. In this classic model, the economy retracts until supply and demand come back into balance.

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