Comrade, the panelists that presented their forecast are all accomplished economists. Economists live in the world of empirical evidence, and would not make these kinds of claims without considerable amount of data to back it up. The article likely doesn't get into the nitty-gritty details, because the details are tedious. While I was not in attendance for this event, I have in the past year heard Professor Tim Duy's presentations on economic forecast for Lane County twice. His claims are based on exhaustive and comprehensive research. His Data sources are diverse and reliable.
I understand the impulse towards skepticism, but "these people," are experts in economics and I trust their ability to make conclusions based on empirical evidence.