What is driving all the fearful recession chatter? Andrew Liveris, presidnt, chairman and chief executive at Dow Chemical, sums it up in one word: "Overreaction."
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he offered CNBC his thoughts on issues ranging from the U.S. economy and consumers to China and oil prices.
"Macro trend-wise, '08 is clearly going to be soifter than '07. And the U.S. economy is still sorting itself out," Liveris conceded. "But I wouldn't do the Chicken Little thing at all."
He pointed to "mitigators" such as cheap Chinese exports to the U.S., which permit American consumers to maintain a certain standard of living.