Blatant Contradictions From Larry Kudlow
In this blog post, I summarize two amazingly quick turnabouts in Larry Kudlow's views on the bailout. Specifically, back in mid-September he was explaining why we needed to stop bailing out firms, because of the problem of moral hazard. Then, after the bailout was rejected by the House and the leaders were putting in "sweeteners," Kudlow said he couldn't support any plan that contained limits on executive pay.
Well, two days after that article, he came out saying how great the bailout would be for taxpayers. The fact that the plan still contained limits on executive pay apparently didn't bother him anymore. Then, just a few days ago, Kudlow explained that Paulson needed to "recapitalize" the banks without punishing shareholders. I.e., last month's talk about moral hazard was out the window.
Comments (7)
andy
Who owns you Kudlow?
Published: October 13, 2008 11:45 AM
Roy Girella
Andy said: "Who owns you Kudlow?"
I would assume General Electric, who owns CNBC, and who was on the No Short list.
Because of the obvious conflict of interest of being on the No Short list and, as a network, cheerleading for the bailout, anything said on CNBC should be considered suspect.
Then again, this is the same network that advocated buying stocks with credit cards a decade ago.
Published: October 13, 2008 12:46 PM
Oil Shock
Kudlow and his contradictions always make up a good comedy.
Published: October 13, 2008 1:29 PM
Bill
Maybe we should award him the Nobel Prize? We can give it to him and his old buddy Kramer, hell throw in Bush or Cheney as well for the most inconsistent economic philosophies.
Published: October 13, 2008 2:53 PM
Pat
"Then again, this is the same network that advocated buying stocks with credit cards a decade ago."
What?! That is the most irresponsible thing I ever heard. I mean, that is like asking a drunk teenager to operate a fully armed nuclear-powered bomber (Of course, there are responsible people, but they are rarely worth being concerned about). Although I can see the strategy behind it, their implicit assumption that people will have the money to pay for the debt on their credit cards after selling their stocks is very naive. Buffett and Co. might be able to pull that off, but others might end up in further debt.
But I digress. That is hardly surprising. Kudlow just didn't like the first bailout. He fell in love with the second. Unfortunately, so have a lot of people in the land of media.
Published: October 13, 2008 3:22 PM
millard doyle
watch lawrence squim
Published: October 14, 2008 6:55 PM
Nenjamin
Kudlow is a hypocritical hack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkqb1pQrCcg
Published: December 4, 2008 10:07 AM