Free Republic

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...

Let's call this what it is: A new bull market in stocks has emerged from the ashes of the financial meltdown and the deep recession that followed. And it's signaling the onset of economic recovery. Free-market capitalism is more durable, resilient, and self-correcting than its detractors would have us believe. This is not just a summer rally -- although a 12 percent market rise since July 10 is absolutely splendid. There's a lot more going on here. Over the last five months, since March 9, the broad-based S&P 500 is up 46 percent. If I'm not mistaken, a 20 percent...

Let's call this what it is: A new bull market in stocks has emerged from the ashes of the financial meltdown and the deep recession that followed. And it's signaling the onset of economic recovery. Free-market capitalism is more durable, resilient and self-correcting than its detractors would have us believe. This is not just a summer rally — although a 12% market rise since July 10 is absolutely splendid. There's a lot more going on here. Over the last five months, since March 9, the broad-based S&P 500 is up 46%. If I'm not mistaken, a 20% rally that is...

Teaser at 7:15PM EST. (probably will come on last segment before 0 press conference at 8:00)

My husband was watching Kudlow's show on CNBC last night and said that Kudlow was interviewing a Republican about health care reform. My husband said he thought the Republican was from Kentucky (McConnell?). Anyway, when Kudlow asked the elected official what the Republicans were doing about health care reform, the response was that they were "trying to slow it down." Uhhhh . . . c'est what?!?!?!?! My husband was absolutely incensed that, as usual, the Republicans were planning to roll over and let the Democrats get their way on something so critical as the sham that is health care "reform."...

I’m all for Governor Sarah Palin’s move over the weekend. It’s time for her to get out of Alaska’s small town, ankle-biting politics. Now she can take her show on the road. This is a woman brimming with charisma and raw political appeal. That’s why everyone’s afraid of her, and attacking her. In other words, Sarah Palin has the power to reinvigorate conservatism and republicanism. Here's my debate last night with nationally syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock.

Why do we need President Obama's big-bang health care reform at all? What's the real agenda here? If it's really to cover the truly uninsured, a much cheaper, targeted, small-ball approach would do the trick. But on the other hand, maybe the real goal is a larger, ultra-liberal plan aimed at a government takeover of the U.S. health system. In a recent column, Larry Elder points to an ABC News-USA Today-Kaiser Family Foundation survey showing that 89% of Americans are satisfied with their health care. That means up to 250 million people could be happy with their plans. So why...

Testifying before the House Budget Committee this week, Ben Bernanke said that when the time comes, the Fed will raise interest rates in order to stop inflation from building in the next recovery. He also asked for “fiscal balance” to sustain financial stability. On the surface — in terms of keeping prices stable and restoring value to the softening U.S. dollar — this is positive. Surely Mr. Bernanke wants to do right for America, and he’s giving it his best shot. But when you talk to traders and economists, the whisper story is that Bernanke and the Fed are no...

Get ready, folks. America has bought a car company. As of Monday, we, the taxpayers, own a majority stake in General Motors Corp. Whether the company will be formally renamed Government Motors remains to be seen. But that's what it will be. GM filed for bankruptcy Monday. Instead of putting the failed car enterprise into bankruptcy six months ago - where Carl Icahn or Wilbur Ross could have bought it - the Bush administration chose Bailout Nation. Under Team Obama, that bailout has morphed into full-scale government ownership. Twenty billion dollars of Troubled Asset Relief Program money is already invested...

Get ready, folks: America is about to own a car company. As of Monday, we the taxpayers will own more than 70 percent of GM. Whether the company will be formally renamed Government Motors remains to be seen. But that’s what it will be. Instead of putting the failed car enterprise into bankruptcy six months ago — where Carl Icahn or Wilbur Ross could have bought it — the Bush administration chose Bailout Nation. Under Team Obama, that bailout has morphed into full-scale government ownership. Twenty billion dollars of TARP money is already invested in GM, with another $50 billion...

<p>Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the Bush administration should have let General Motors go bankrupt instead of bailing out the troubled auto giant, according to The Hill.</p> <p>Cheney told CNBC's Larry Kudlow that he disagreed from the beginning with Bush's decision to provide a short-term loan to the embattled automaker. At the time, the move was intended to keep the GM solvent until then-President-elect Obama could take the reins. A month before he left office, Bush announced a $13.4 billion bridge loan for General Motors and Chrysler.</p>

Does anybody really believe that adding 50 million people to the public health-care rolls will not cost the government more money? About $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion more? At least. So let's be serious when evaluating President Obama's goal of universal health care, and the idea that it's a cost-cutter. Can't happen. Won't happen. Costs are going to explode. Think of it: Can anyone name a federal program that ever cut costs for anything? Let's not forget that the existing Medicare system is roughly $80 trillion in the hole. And does anybody believe Obama's new "public" health-insurance plan isn't really...

May 13, 2009, 6:37 p.m. Obama’s ‘Public’ Health Plan Will Bankrupt the NationBut where’s the GOP to just say no? By Larry Kudlow Does anybody really believe that adding 50 million people to the public health-care rolls will not cost the government more money? About $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion more? At least. So let’s be serious when evaluating President Obama’s goal of universal health care, and the idea that it’s a cost-cutter. Can’t happen. Won’t happen. Costs are going to explode. Think of it: Can anyone name a federal program that ever cut costs for anything? Let’s not...

Wow, that has to be a record for shortest tenure ever at the NY Fed. His resignation letter (below), is as Dealbook notes, rather disingenuous: Mr. Friedman was chairman of the New York Fed at the same time he was a member of Goldman’s board. He also had a substantial stake in the firm as the Fed was crafting a solution to keep Wall Street banks afloat. Denis M. Hughes, deputy chair of the board, will take over as the interim chairman, the New York Fed said in a statement. (Read Mr. Friedman’s letter after the jump.) Because the New...

At the end of April the Obama administration tested its ability to take direct control of the US financial system. The test was a success. There is a revolution underway which would impress Chavez or Castro. If you were like most people, you did not realize it happened. As the details of the GM restructuring plan emerged, on Monday, April 27th, Lawrence Kudlow was one of the first to sound the alarm as secured lenders and bond holders were being given a fraction of the amount owed to them under long established bankruptcy law. What is going on in this...

In the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan's popularity and policies moved American politics firmly to the right. In only 100 days, Barack Obama's politics and policies have shifted America way to the left. The president is seeking to change the whole relationship between the government and the free-enterprise private sector. He is steering the country away from democratic capitalism and toward his big-government command-and-control vision. We are witnessing a triumph of government bureaucrats over entrepreneurs, investors, and small businesses. And with Sen. Arlen Specter switching from Republican to Democrat, Obama can now move the nation even further to the left. A...

Is bailout nation about to strike again? Sure looks like it. According to a bunch of front-page news stories, life-insurance companies are about to get TARPed. This is nuts. The public is clamoring for an end to TARP and bailout nation. That's a key message coming from the heartland tea parties that are cropping up spontaneously around the country. This is turning into a real populist uprising against rising taxes (especially state, local and property taxes), TARP and all the federal bailouts — and the trillions of dollars of deficits and debt being used for financing. If Team Obama ignores...

Here is video of CNBC's Larry Kudlow talking with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about Tax Day Tea Parties planned across Texas, including ten in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex alone. Perry talks about the fact Texas has low taxes and one of the best climates in the nation for business. He points out that Arthur Laffer says there is not contest between Texas and California in terms of the business climate. Texas wins hands down. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Do Pres. Obama and Treasury man Geithner want to control the banks, just as they have taken over GM? Will the government assert political direction of the financial system in place of market forces, or in place of the rule of law as enforced by bankruptcy judges? These hot topics have been discussed in a recent Politico story, a Wall Street Journal op-ed by my friend Stuart Varney, and an IBD editorial called “Federal Takeover.” Much of the discussion centers on bank paybacks of TARP money. In particular, banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana, and California (four in all) have...

Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), probably the most knowledgeable man in Congress about the car bailout, and someone who argued months ago in favor of a pre-planned government-sponsored bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler, calls the Wagoner firing “a major power-grab by the White House on the heels of another power-grab from Secretary Geithner, who asked last week for the freedom to decide on his own which companies are ‘systemically’ important to our country and worthy of taxpayer investment, and which are not.” Corker calls this “a marked departure from the past,” “truly breathtaking,” and something that “should send a chill...

Taking advantage of the populist revolt against Wall Street and the American International Group Inc. bailouts, House Democrats have passed a vengeance tax on TARPed financial firms that amounts to a 90 percent marginal tax rate on bonuses. This is being done in the name of AIG outrage, and nobody wants to defend the insurance company - including me. The financial-products division helped blow up the global credit system, and it shouldn't be rewarded. Yet one wonders about this 90 percent tax rate. If it passes the Senate, will it ever be repealed? This could be the ultimate class-warfare spread-the-wealth...

Three days after announcing his plan to take on Connecticut's senior senator, Rob Simmons breezed past a bunch of kids sitting in the gym of the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London. It wasn't a political appearance: Simmons was here to talk about moon rocks. "You want to shake the hand of the man who shook the hand of the man who went to the moon?" said the lanky 66-year-old with thinning gray hair and a toothy grin. A former congressman who was swept aside in the 2006 Democratic wave, Simmons long has been known as a fiscally conservative,...

Taking advantage of the populist revolt against Wall Street and AIG bailouts, the House Democrats have passed a vengeance tax on TARPed financial firms that amounts to a 90 percent marginal tax rate on bonuses. This is being done in the name of AIG outrage, and nobody wants to defend the insurance company — including me. The financial-products division helped blow up the global credit system, and it shouldn’t be rewarded. Yet one wonders about this 90 percent tax rate. If it passes the Senate, will it ever be repealed? This could be the ultimate class-warfare spread-the-wealth redistribution scheme, aimed...

Finance is not comedy and when it becomes that, the last laugh is on you. Cramer’s MAD MONEY is nothing more than a Sham Wow Show for the Stock Market. When Comedy Central starts sounding more authoritative than CNBC in its sobering observations about how the market got messed up, it's time to change out some of the "talent" and pseudo-experts at CNBC.

Is President Barack Obama's administration showing hints it is losing confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner? CNBC's Larry Kudlow said the signs are suggesting as much. The host of "The Kudlow Report" said in an appearance with CNBC On-Air Editor Charlie Gasparino on his March 17 broadcast that a statement put out earlier today by the administration, and placed at the top of the Drudge Report, hinted this was the beginning of the end for Geithner. "You know, statements out of the blue - statements like this are what I call a real bad leading indicator that Geithner's time, days...

Could this be a sign of things to come? Now that CNBC Chicago Mercantile Exchange reporter Rick Santelli has mysteriously disappeared from the spotlight after his criticism of President Barack Obama's mortgage proposal in February and now that CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer has been marginalized after his lackluster appearance on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" on March 12, could the new target of the Obama machine and the left and their accomplices in the media be CNBC "The Kudlow Report" host Larry Kudlow? James Rainey, a columnist for The Los Angeles Times, set his sights on Kudlow in...

While everyone is giving you bad news, we're going to report "Good News Mustarad Seed." Thursday, March 12th - Core retail sales are up for the second straight month. - Consumer spending in the first quarter GDP could actually be positive. The energy tax cut and big money growth is kicking in. - Used car sales up in January and February. Bodes well for auto recovery. - Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis says he'll be profitable in Q1 joining Citi, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and others. China's industrial production is rising including cement production. This follows strong car sales....

His guest certainly thinks so.

Finally after five straight down days for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), it rallied back 149 points to finish at 6,875 on March 4. But it picked right back up today and continued to fall. What's holding it back? CNBC "The Kudlow Report " host Larry Kudlow had Jeff Macke, founder and president of Macke Asset Management on his March 4 program and asked if the rally, along with other indicators might be signs of a recovery. Macke, a co-host of CNBC's "Fast Money" said he wasn't impressed and blamed President Barack Obama. "It would if not for an...

Just heard Laura ask Larry Kudlow if it was true he was considering running against Dodd in Connecticut next election. He said, he's thinking strongly about it. Wouldn't that be good news???

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds. That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow. Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for...

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds. That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow. Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for...

Will Larry Kudlow run for senate against Chris Dodd? From Steve Moore: Republicans in Washington think they may have found their man to pick up a Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010: Larry Kudlow, the former Reagan budget advisor, Wall Street economist and now CNBC TV news anchor. The Internet is abuzz with the chatter of a Kudlow for Senate boomlet, which has even hit the Drudge Report. In an interview yesterday, Mr. Kudlow confirmed to me that he did sit down for dinner with Senate Republican Campaign Committee Chairman John Cornyn “to hear him out on the idea.”

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s address to Congress and budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds. That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow. Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for his sweeping government-planning-and-spending...

Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget. He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds. That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow.

Conservatism Emerges on CNBCFebruary 25, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Amazingly, ladies and gentlemen, some of the brightest, most informed and effective conservatism is now found on CNBC. Larry Kudlow has a program called The Kudlow Report. It's at seven p.m. on CNBC. He's talking with Democrat Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania last night. Kudlow says, "Are the Democrats, your party, in danger right now? Are they on the edge of relapsing back to a 1967, 1907 style of big government spending, welfare entitlement? Is that a danger? Has your party relapsed into that old big-spending label?" Now, here's a montage...

Here is video of Rick Santelli destroying Obama's Mortgage Plan on Larry Kudlow yesterday. Every time Santelli opens his mouth, it is a breath of fresh air because he is telling the common-sense truth, which we are not hearing much of these days. Santelli directly responds to the charge by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs that he has not read Obama's plan. . . . . . (Watch Santelli)