"We are not in a typical recession," said ChristopherThornberg, founder of Beacon Economics,at Financial Partners Credit Union's 4th AnnualEconomic Forum last week. In his presentation, Thornberg painted apicture that the economic dislocation is not as severe as manyfear, and in fact, the hysteria, as he describes it, itunwarranted. As we had a healthy economy heading into thisrecession, we will have a healthy economy again as soon as thepublic health problem is resolved.

"We are in the midst of a recession, but the question is 'howbad of a recession,' and where is the economy going to be in thesecond half of the year? If you look at the headlines, you arehitting the panic button and are ready to go live on an island andwait this thing out," Thornberg said during the digital conference."Take a step back. When any kind of conversation is had, hysteriais the new normal."

However, he assures, this isn't a typical recession, and hecontinues to make a case for a V-shaped recovery. "We are not in atypical downturn. Has there been a collapsing financial bubble? No.Has there been a massive financial bubble on the US economy? No.Did we see this coming a year away? No," he said. "In fact, as muchas this is an incredibly large negative shock to the system, it isnot a traditional business cycle in any way, shape or form. For allof the folks leaping to the worse possible conclusion, they areleaping to assumptions that don't make sense."