Austan Goolsbee: Economy could see 'blockbuster year' pending severity of omicron

Economics professor Austan Goolsbee joined "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" on Tuesday, claiming the severity of omicron will likely dictate the amount of economic growth in 2022, alongside supply shortages, the status of the labor market, and the overall growth rate. Gooslbee told Neil Cavuto it could be a "blockbuster year" for the economy if those factors align.

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AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: If we cannot get control of the virus, that will affect the economic growth, and it will slow down. If we can get control of virus, if omicron ends up being mild, and by mid-February we're past this thing, then I think Jamie Diamond's right, we're going to be off to the races. The job market is very strong. The growth rate... was looking very strong, and we'll have to see if Chair Powell is correct that the supply chain pressures are going to ease. Hopefully, that happens. In which case, it could be a blockbuster year... They would need to raise rates and get back to normal. But if we cannot do that, and if the growth rate does not end up being four five six percent, but falls back to two or even slows down, sort of like at the tail end of the Trump administration when the first... resurgence of the virus happened, the job numbers actually went negative. The GDP growth rate slowed, and we could be back into that. So we're just going to have to monitor.

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