OWEGO, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – The Tioga County Chamber of Commerce brought businesses together to network and recap the last few years of our nation’s economy, and what can be expected going forward.

The Tioga Chamber held an economic forecasting forum, with SUNY Broome economics professor Giovanni Scaringi as the event’s keynote speaker.

There was also a question and answer session with a panel of experts from sectors such as real estate, energy, DEI and finance.

Scaringi says that if the past few years of economic data have showed us anything, it’s that we are at a tipping point, and a myriad of factors could tip the scales either way.

“The things that we buy, our needs and wants, there’s a lot of small businesses here, all of you are the main job drivers of this state and of this nation, don’t let anyone ever tell you differently, it’s not the big box stores. Small, and medium-large businesses are 57 percent of the jobs created in this country.”

Scaringi says that if we lose small business, we lose everything.

He says that change is on the horizon, with the New York Fed recently approving a beta test for a digital U.S. dollar.