Free Republic

Ben Bernanke’s shocking FOMC announcement on Tuesday — that its zero-interest-rate target would be extended for two more years through the middle of 2013 — drove Dow stocks up over 400 points. But this new policy had no stock market carry-over on Wednesday, when the Dow plunged over 500 points. But we have not heard the last from Ben Bernanke — not by a long shot. Buried in the last paragraph of this week’s surprise FOMC announcement was this huge statement: “The Committee discussed the range of policy tools available to promote a stronger economic recovery in a context of...

New economic stats today on retail sales from both China and the U.S. show there’s no double-dip recession out there — no matter what the bears-gone-viral may be telling you. No Armageddon. And no stock market crash either

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Here's a question: Why is repealing the Bush tax cuts such a constant obsession for the Democratic Party? Especially the top rates for the most successful earners and small business entrepreneurs? It seems this is the Democratic answer for every single issue, every problem, every debate. This, of course, saddens me enormously. And so, always ready to help, I am recommending a 12-Step program to help them overcome their anger, resentment, and obsession over the Bush tax cuts. Democrats really need a Higher Power on this. First, when tax rates were lowered across-the-board in mid-2003, the incentive effect kicked in...

One of the most interesting facets of modern economic policy is the sheer number of numbers. There is the unemployment rate. There is the workforce participation rate. There is the debt level. There is the deficit number. There is the foreclosure rate. There is the economic confidence number. There is the interest rate, and the inflation rate, and the money-supply rate. The point is that we Americans are far too busy (and perhaps economically confused) to look at multiple numbers in order to figure out if we can afford a vacation to Disney World. In 2012 we should strongly encourage...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor turned the policy temperature down on austerity this week by rolling out a strong economic-growth agenda. Headlined by a 25 percent top tax rate for individuals and business, the Cantor package includes regulatory relief, free trade, and patent protection for entrepreneurs. It’s job creation and the economy, stupid. Sounds Reaganesque? Well, Eric Cantor has a lot of Reagan blood in him. Back in 1980, while Cantor was still in high school, his father was the Virginia state treasurer of the Ronald Reagan presidential campaign. So the apple never falls far from the tree. In fact,...

Fed head Ben Bernanke, at his first-ever news conference on Wednesday, slammed the door shut on any new QE3 pump-priming. The $600 billion QE2 program to purchase bonds will end on target at the end of June, and that will be that. Mr. Bernanke also suggested that the Fed’s “extended period” for the near-zero federal funds target rate could end in a couple of meetings. Perhaps these announcements suggest a bit-less-easy monetary policy. Perhaps. But Mr. Bernanke had no defense of the sinking dollar, or the inflation it brings, or the drop in middle-class living standards it causes. So it’s...

A week after Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday celebration, comparisons between presidents Obama and Reagan continue. But so far, the differences between the two presidents are still huge. So far, real GDP has averaged only 3 percent annually for Obama. Employment as defined by nonfarm payrolls has increased by a paltry 121,000. On the other hand, going back to Reagan's first six recovery quarters, real GDP averaged 7.7 percent annually while nonfarm payrolls rose by 5.3 million.

Decades of autocratic government and a lack of free elections are, of course, the main drivers of the political upheaval in Egypt. But did the sinking dollar and skyrocketing food prices trigger the massive unrest now occurring in Egypt — or the greater Arab world for that matter? In addition to Egypt, the people have taken to the streets to varying degrees in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Yemen. Local food riots have even broken out in rural China and other Asian locales. While the mainstream media focus on the political aspects of this turmoil, they are overlooking the impact...

<p>As we know, massive popular unrest has broken out against autocratic governments in North Africa and the Arab world. Egypt is the biggest story. But to varying degrees, the people have taken to the streets in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen.</p>

Larry Kudlow just insisted on a rumor we've heard several times: Michael Bloomberg is going to be treasury secretary. Kudlow says he heard from "deep insiders" that the pick has been made and it's Bloomberg.

Under pressure from a barrage of bad midterm-election polls, President Obama has gone on the campaign trail to blame Pres. George W. Bush for all our economic problems, and to bash House Republican leader John Boehner as nothing more than a Bush retread. In Friday’s dreary news conference, Obama acknowledged that economic progress is “painfully slow,” and that voters may blame him for the economy. Yet he nonetheless continued to finger Bush “for policies that cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires, cut regulations for corporations and for special interests, and left everyone else pretty much fending for themselves.” “Millionaires...

Link above for Dave Goldman on Kudlow

Is Rep. "Too Sanguine" Frank now telling us that he didn't know that government-sponsored enterprises spewing out government-subsidized credit were a real risk for a credit meltdown? Either way, the chap who is parading himself before the world as chairman of the committee with responsibility for the financial markets should have known. It's not as if we haven't seen this sort of thing before, starting with the South Sea Company and the South Sea Bubble of 1720. Guess what: the South Sea Company was a government-sponsored enterprise, too. Here's another fine mess that liberals should have known about: ObamaCare. Back...

On his radio show today, Larry Kudlow fell prey to his RINO elitist tendencies and gave Geitner credit for a lower capital gains tax than anticipated.

This whole debate about government stimulus versus austerity, and the impact of these policies on economic growth, misses a key point: It is business, not government, that creates jobs. The economic power of business is the missing link in the faux debate that is now raging over spending and deficit policies. A brief look at the recent jobs report for June tells this story. After spending more than $1 trillion through so-called government stimulus, we are at best experiencing a grinding and anemic jobs recovery. Private payrolls are growing slowly. The workweek is again shrinking. And average hourly earnings have...

Revolution in California and political regime change come November has been a theme of mine for weeks. Tuesday night's big victories for Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina moved that agenda nicely down the field. And let me add to it. Following the Tuesday primaries, the mainstream media began calling this the year of the woman, pointing not only to Fiorina and Whitman in California, but to Sharron Angle in Nevada, Nikki Haley in South Carolina and Democrat Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. But we need a qualifier here. This is really going to be the year of the women from the...

Kudlow:Carly, welcome back. Congratulations. You really--stunning victory yesterday, just knocked off everybody. We've got--we invited, by the way, your opponent, Barbara Boxer. She politely declined. I'm not shocked by that, but she did. But what we do have is a sound bite from Miss Boxer. We have a sound bite from Barbara Boxer. She's already attacking you, and she's already getting into the mud. And what I...Ms. Fiorina: What a shock.Kudlow: I know. It's a shocking development. And I want to give you a chance. Let's put the sound bite from her making an attack on you. Let's let you...

Revolution in California and political regime change come November has been a theme of mine for weeks. Tuesday night's big victories for Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina moved that agenda nicely down the field. And let me add to it. Following the Tuesday primaries, the mainstream media began calling this the year of the woman, pointing not only to Fiorina and Whitman in California, but to Sharron Angle in Nevada, Nikki Haley in South Carolina, and Democrat Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas. But we need a qualifier here. This is really going to be the year of the women from the...

U.S and world stock markets are slumping badly as intensified systemic risks from the Greek and European debt-default contagion continue to spread. Disciplinarian markets of stocks, bonds, gold, and currencies are signaling the inadequacy of European Union rescue plans and the global fear that economic recovery will be blunted. Europe is the main source of the current upheaval. Specifically, the biggest issue right now is short-term funding. Key funding risk indicators, such as LIBOR and various short-term swap spreads, are showing credit and liquidity stress in Europe. Interbank funding looks increasingly sloppy and worrisome. These are dangerous market signals. The...

World and U.S. stock markets are slumping badly as intensified systemic risks from the Greek and European debt-default contagion continue to spread. Disciplinarian markets of stocks, bonds, gold, and currencies are signaling the inadequacy of European Union rescue plans and the global fear that economic recovery will be blunted. Europe is the main source of the current upheaval. Specifically, the biggest issue right now is short-term funding. Key funding risk indicators, such as LIBOR and various short-term swap spreads, are showing credit and liquidity stress in Europe. Interbank funding looks increasingly sloppy and worrisome. These are dangerous market signals. The...

What both parties in Washington are doing to America in terms everyone understands.

Sometimes you have to take out your political lenses and look at the actual statistics to get a true picture of the health of the American economy. Right now, those statistics are saying a modest cyclical rebound following a very deep downturn could actually be turning into a full-fledged, V-shaped, recovery boom between now and year-end. Conservatives shouldn’t trash it. I’m aiming this thought especially at many of my conservative friends who seem to be trashing the improving economic outlook — largely, it would appear, to discredit the Obama administration. Don’t do it folks. It’s a mistake. The numbers are...

I will be on The Kudlow Report this evening (slated for 7:20), Discussing China March 15th, 2010 By David Goldman I’m slated to join the discussion at 7:20 on CNBC’s The Kudlow report on whether the US should try to force China to revalue the yuan. As Reuven Brenner and I wrote in December in First Things, the issue is NOT a minor adjustment in the relative price of US vs. Chinese goods, but the fact that the Chinese save more than half of their income. They should save less and spend more and buy American goods. Currency instability promotes...

Per CNBC

The disconnect between Washington and the rest of the country has never been greater. Why can’t the political class in D.C. produce a fiscal product that voters, taxpayers, and investors are willing to consume?

At the Washington Cathedral memorial service for conservative icon Jack Kemp last May, many of his loyalists asked the same question: with Kemp’s passing, would his infectious pro-growth optimism also depart our political stage? That profoundly sad day, it certainly seemed possible. Just eight months later, there is a remarkable potential candidate in the Kemp mold who may oppose – and defeat – uber liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). New York Republican, Conservative and Tea Party leaders are talking up the potential candidacy of CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow, a former advisor to Kemp and Ronald Reagan. For decades, Chuck Schumer...

State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long had a "real positive" dinner meeting with Larry Kudlow earlier this week and came away believing the CNBC host and supply-side economist is "dead serious" about considering a challenge to Sen. Chuck Schumer. Long, who dined with Kudlow at his invitation at Nicola's on E 84th Street, said he had been tempted to call Kudlow himself after a Facebook page seeking to draft him into the Senate race was created. But he decided to wait it out and let the would-be candidate come to him, instead. "I was tempted, but I've been down these...

The New York State Conservative Party is getting behind CNBC host Larry Kudlow to run against Senator Chuck Schumer (D - NY) in the 2010 mid term elections. Here is CPNYS release on the party's support of Mr. Kudlow.: "The New York State Conservative Party's Executive Committee, met on Monday afternoon, and by unanimous vote passed a resolution urging financial expert, Larry Kudlow, to run for the United States Senate.

Sen. Charles Schumer's approval rating is at a 10-year low -- falling below 50 percent at a time when Democratic incumbents nationally are on the ropes. The share of voters who believe Schumer, the state's senior senator, is doing an "excellent" or "good" job is now 47 percent -- putting him below the magic measure of 50 percent, according to a Marist College Polling Institute survey released yesterday. And his "fair" and "poor" ratings are 31 percent and 17 percent, respectively -- a combined 48 percent. The last time his favorable number was below 50 percent was in April 2001,...

Sen. Charles Schumer, who easily won re-election last time out, could face a challenge this year from CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow. Interviewed yesterday by Curtis Sliwa on AM 970 The Apple, Kudlow said, "I'm very honored to be considered, and I'm going to give all this careful attention."...

Sen. Scott Brown's epic victory in Massachusetts last Tuesday dealt a crushing blow to ObamaCare, cap-and-trade, card check (and other union favors), and most importantly, all the tax hikes that are lingering on the table. But does Washington really understand the Scott Brown message? President Obama thinks his "remoteness and detachment" are the problems. This is nonsense. Obama's tax hikes and spending explosion are what caused the populist tea-party revolt that was punctuated by Scott Brown's extraordinary victory. And that leads to the next question. Are the Republicans listening? Do they really understand why Scott Brown was victorious? If they...

Sen. Scott Brown’s epic victory in Massachusetts on Tuesday night dealt a crushing blow to Obamacare, cap-and-trade, card check (and other union favors), and most importantly, all the tax hikes that are lingering on the table. But does Washington really understand the Scott Brown message? President Obama thinks his “remoteness and detachment” are the problems. This is nonsense. Obama’s tax hikes and spending explosion are what caused the populist tea-party revolt that was punctuated by Scott Brown’s extraordinary victory. And that leads to the next question. Are the Republicans listening? Do they really understand why Scott Brown was victorious? If...

CNBC host and supply-side economist Larry Kudlow will not say — among encouragement from a group of New York free market champions — if he’s considering challenging Sen. Chuck Schumer for his New York Senate seat up for election this year. “The only thing I’ve said and I’ll continue to say is I’m honored to be considered,” Kudlow told The Daily Caller. “I’m really flattered.” An online draft movement — draftkudlow.com — is encouraging Kudlow to enter the race as a Republican. The group, which emerged after Massachusetts elected Republican Scott Brown to the Senate this week, says on its...

President Obama's misbegotten bank tax is precisely the wrong policy at precisely the wrong time. It will wind up backfiring across the board. Why? Because bank consumers and borrowers are the ones who will wind up paying this tax, creating an obstacle to economic recovery. Obama is actually rewarding losers and punishing winners -- exactly the reverse of free-market capitalism. Who's being rewarded? Obama's bank-tax penalty is being used to finance the failed government takeovers of GM, GMAC, and Fannie and Freddie. And let's not forget the $75 billion failure of the so-called foreclosure loan-modification program. To this day, no...

Jan. 11th MoneyBomb for Scott Brown @ http://www.RedInvadesBlue.com http://www.brownforussenate... Let's eliminate the super-majority.

The 2010 Economy Will Boom Thanks To Free-Market Capitalism Larry Kudlow Dec. 31, 2009, 10:20 AM Despite the historic expansion of the federal government’s involvement in, intervention in, and control of the economy -- including Bailout Nation; takeovers of banks, car companies, insurance firms, Fannie, Freddie, AIG, GM, Chrysler, and GMAC; large-scale tax threats; overregulation; an attempted takeover of the health-care sector; ultra-easy money; a declining dollar; and unprecedented spending and debt creation -- despite all the things that would be expected to destroy the economy -- all this socialism lite and the degrading of incentives and rewards for success...

What's a yield curve and why is it so important? Well, the curve itself measures Treasury interest rates, by maturity, from 91-day T-bills all the way out to 30-year bonds. It's the difference between the long rates and the short rates that tells a key story about the future of the economy. When the curve is wide and upward sloping, as it is today, it tells us that the economic future is good. When the curve is upside down, or inverted, with short rates above long rates, it tells us that something is amiss -- such as a credit crunch...

Helicopter Ben Bernanke passed his reconfirmation vote in the Senate Banking Committee this week. But he passed by 16 to 7. Most of the Republicans voted against Bernanke, as did one Democrat, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon. The reconfirmation now goes to the floor of the Senate, where it’s going to be held up for a while. (Sen. Jim DeMint and others are insisting that a vote on the Government Accounting Office’s audit of the Fed occur first.) But when the final vote happens, I think Bernanke could be in trouble. Mirroring the Banking Committee vote, most of the 40...

Fess up, Tiger. If you don’t, the tabloids are gonna kill ya. The storyline so far is that for some reason your apparently furious wife Elin teed you up inside your Florida mansion with one of your Nike golf clubs, and that you sought escape by hot-footing it outside at two-thirty in the morning to your Cadillac Escalade in the driveway. But Elin kept coming at you. So you tried to slam the SUV down the driveway in racecar fashion, something you’ve probably done hundreds of times before. Only this time, for some reason, you hit a fireplug and wrapped...

When viewers tune into watch CNBC's "The Kudlow Report," they may not anticipate a host interrupting conservative Republican Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. But on CNBC's Nov. 24 "The Kudlow Report," fill-in host Simon Hobbs attempted to do just that. Hobbs, a regular on CNBC Europe, suggested there was nothing to emails unveiled after a hacker allegedly accessed the Climate Research Unit at University of East Anglia in Britain. These emails showed an effort by scientists, some on the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to manipulate data to strengthen the claim of anthropogenic global warming. "You're well-known as...

And then goes off on a nice pro-capitalist rant. By the way, he also works for NBC News!

The falling dollar, rising taxes, and an explosion of spending and debt make it hard for me to be a long-term bull. Dow Jones 10,000 arrived on Wall Street on Wednesday for the first time in a year. It’s a milestone of sorts, and it certainly represents a vote for investor confidence in economic recovery. Blowout profit reports from Intel and JPMorgan helped fuel the day’s 145-point gain. So did a retail sales report that, excluding Cash for Clunkers, was actually quite strong. Profits are the mother’s milk of stocks, business, and the economy. And top-line sales revenues now appear...

Kudlow just gave a teaser for "ACORN gets Cracked" - a report on the ACORN voter registration fraud and prostitution sting and $53 million in tax money. I'll post when that segment comes on.

The day after President Obama's impassioned speech for big-government health care, Wall Street bet heavily that the so-called government-insurance option he supports is dead. In a strong stock market on Thursday — the market's fifth-straight daily rise (so much for the September swoon) — health-insurer shares advanced significantly. Cigna increased 5%, Health Net almost 5%, Humana 3.5% and UnitedHealth Group 1.5%. Hospital shares like Community Health Systems and Tenet Healthcare also rallied smartly, climbing about 5% each. Drug company Pfizer rose more than 1%. These stocks would not have rallied if the public option looked alive. Corroborating this, the Intrade...

Here is video of CNBC's Larry Kudlow and a panel discussing the ethics problems of Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel in failing to disclose a number of accounts and financial matters, including a $500,000 checking account. Larry Kudlow said he does not see how Rangel can retain his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. But Julian Epstein defended Rangel as an "honest guy" who was just "sloppy" in his reporting of assets. . . . . (Watch Video)

It's hard to know why President Obama said what he said at Tuesday's health-care town hall in New Hampshire. He actually stated, "If you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It's the Post Office that's always having problems." Oops. Freudian slip? Subliminally speaking, was the president inferring that private health insurers are doing just fine? Government insurance is what's in trouble today. Medicare is in the hole by about $40 trillion on a discounted present-value basis over the next 40 or 50 years. And if we're going to equate government care to government mail, according to...

Here at Mises Daily, we often poke fun at left-liberal Democrats for their Keynesian ways. To prove that this is about ideas, not parties, today we'll focus on a recent blog post in which Republican economist Larry Kudlow came out in favor of extending the "cash-for-clunkers" program. As we'll see, Kudlow's arguments are pure Keynesian nonsense. Sadly, many of today's ostensibly radical, "free-market" economists basically look at the economy in the same way as Paul Krugman. They just have a slight technical disagreement over the best way to prod people to spend money. Only the Austrian approach offers a different...

Obama's Hoof-In-Mouth Disease Larry Kudlow Wednesday, August 12, 2009 It’s hard to know why President Obama said what he said at Tuesday’s health-care town hall in New Hampshire. He actually stated, “If you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.” Oops. Freudian slip? Subliminally speaking, was the president inferring that private health insurers are doing just fine? Government insurance is what’s in trouble today. Medicare is in the hole by about $40 trillion on a discounted present-value basis over the next 40 or 50 years. And if we’re going...

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. 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...