As a free-market capitalist who does not believe in artificial spending and pump-priming from Uncle Sam, I’m going to eat a little crow with the following statement: At this moment in history, if we’re going to use fiscal stimulus as Washington insists, I favor extending the cash-for-clunkers car-rebate program.Among the problems with these short paragraphs:
With the greatest respect for my conservative friends and colleagues who totally disagree with me, here’s why.
In virtually no time, the clunker program has become a national pastime. It has captured the public’s imagination in a way that no other federal stimulus has. Everyone is talking about it. And I truly believe that consumer spirits have been buoyed by the prospect of going out and buying a new car -- even with federal assistance, and even under the duress of federal mileage standards.
A. Why would you want to "capture the public's imagination" via a government hand out program? Doesn't this just encourage the call for more such programs, where few understand that the programs have to be paid for?
B. And speaking of paying for the programs, Kudlow, of course, fails to mention where all the money is going to come from (YOU) that is now being misdirected into Obama's favorite union industry, the auto sector.
I haven't seen Kudlow write anything so stupid since the days when he was mixing coke and alcohol.
If this were a one-shot thing, I would attribute it to Kudlow just being saucy on his blog, for kicks. But let's recall that he was cheerleading the Paulson plan when it was being debated. In this article he says, "Paradoxical as it may seem, strong government actions to stabilize banking are necessary to preserve the free-market capitalist system."
ReplyDeleteOh Larry.
Kudlow should be called the windsock.
ReplyDeleteKudlow lost all credibility YEARS AGO...
ReplyDeleteCNBC as a whole is a Wall Street cheerleader, and very minimal credibility, overall!