Kudlow: “Hurrah for Recession!”
It was absolutely absurd to see Larry Kudlow and Brian Wesbury on Friday popping champaign corks over the fact that GDP for the first quarter might come in barely positive. In 2001, GDP was barely positive at 0.8%. Was that cause for celebration? Was that a catalyst for higher stock prices? I don’t think so.
I have not missed an episode of Kudlow’s show for years; going back to when it was Kudlow & Cramer. And I know perfectly well that Larry’s mantra is “buy stocks for the long run.” So, I know what to expect. But with Friday’s episode, Kudlow has come very close to throwing away his credibility with his hard-core fans. The show was almost a self-parody.
Earlier in the week, Kudlow ranted that the Wall Street Journal was being too negative. You might think that Rupert Murdoch would try to sugar-coat the bad news to give the Republicans a boost, but he has not. Kudos to Murdoch for maintaining credibility amongst his readers.
Now that Kudlow has gone into full-blown political-propaganda mode, people interested in objective economic discussion don’t need to tune in until after the presidential election.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I use to watch Kudlow alot. After they changed the time I don’t bother anymore. My blood pressure went down and my neighbors stopped hearing the screaming at the tv. Try easing yourself off this show, it can have serious long term health issues.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Well, I will probably keep watching. They usually have a pretty good balance between bulls and bears. It’s just that Larry gets a little bit crazy during election season. He really seems to think he can talk-up the market during a worsening recession. I don’t know why anybody would want to try such a thing.