Commonwealth Club Event: "The Economy 2026: Bubble or Boom?"

Join the Commonwealth Club of California on Feb. 11, 2026 to hear a panel discussion on the current state of the economy and whether 2026 will see the bursting of an AI bubble or a true AI boom.

HOW TO WATCH:
This event is $10 for online tickets, and you must register at the link below, at which point you'll be emailed a link to the online event - https://commonwealthclub.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/instances/a0FVb00000AEZeTMAX

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Are we in an AI-driven financial bubble? New York Times financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of a new book on the 1929 stock market crash, thinks so. "I just can't tell you when, and I can't tell you how deep," he has said. "But I can assure you, unfortunately, I wish I wasn't saying this, we will have a crash.”

But other experts, notably Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, doesn’t think the AI boom is another dot-com bubble. “These companies … actually have business models and profits... So it’s really a different thing,” Powell said in October.

So what’s the average consumer and investor to do? In Commonwealth Club World Affairs' annual economic forecast, our experts will go beyond the hype and doomsaying to break down what it all means for your bottom line.

Will the stock market continue to rally, or will there be a correction? How will tariff chaos and the immigration crackdown impact the economy? What can we expect with future interest rate cuts, and with President Trump’s efforts to influence the Fed?

We’ll take up those questions and much more with our expert panel.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS & MODERATOR:

• Steven Davis is an economist who serves as Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution and a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy & Research (SIEPR)
• Haim Israel has a MBA from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a Global Strategist and Managing Director of Global Thematic Investing Research for Bank of America Global Research
• Martha Olney is a Teaching Professor Emerita in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley
• Adam Lashinsky, the moderator, is Editor-at-Large and a Columnist for the San Francisco Standard

ABOUT THE EVENT HOST:
The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. Every year, they present more than 450 forums on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Their stated mission is to be the leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. To learn more, go to: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/who-we-are
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