SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - Many experts say the global economy has been permanently altered by the Iran War, no matter what happens next. Even if there's a rock solid, long-term agreement between the US and Iran immediately, WashU Economics Professor John Horn says there's now much more uncertainty in the world, "businesses and a lot of countries are starting to question, we always thought we were going to get oil, but now that might not be the case and we don't know what's going to happen with these shocks."
Horn says energy drives everything, so that affects the price of everything. And he points out, once prices go up, they won't go back down to where they were a year or two ago.
On top of that, Horn points out, American workers are losing the ability to keep up, "for the last couple years, wage growth was growing faster than price growth, so yes, prices were higher but you were getting more money which sort of covered it. Now wages have been growing slower."
You may be asking why US stock markets are still performing well, when the War in Iran is disrupting the global economy.
Horn says it comes down to one thing. "The big disconnect is data centers. Most of the growth in stock prices and stock growth is a very select few companies that are building out and continuing to get lots of investment because of data centers."
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Total Information AM Co-Host Megan Lynch gets insight from WashU Economics Professor John Horn
Total Information AM Co-Host Megan Lynch gets insight from WashU Economics Professor John Horn
