Although he spent most of the time talking about wildfires and climate change, Gov. Jerry Brown strayed into the world of economics while talking to reporters the other day at the state emergency center and warned of another recession lurking on the horizon.

“At some point, the tariffs and the natural cycle will kick in,” Brown said, then flipped back to his time at San Francisco’s St. Ignatius High School when “the good priest Father Clark went to the blackboard and he drew a line up, and he drew a line down — up and down, up and down.”

This is the business cycle, the priest explained, and economists are working very hard to smooth it out.

“That was in 1955, and that zigzag up and down is still with us,” Brown said.

“It’s going to happen,” the governor said of the next slowdown. “We maybe have two years if we are lucky.”

Not that it’s the first time he’s preached doom and gloom.

Two years ago, while attending a holiday party in San Francisco after addressing climate scientists at Moscone Center, Brown predicted life as we know it will end from a “climate, nuclear or financial” meltdown.

“And they are all tied together,” he said.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@ sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross