Lawrence Kudlow from Creators Syndicate

There's Something Missing in St. Paul for 09/06/2008

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

On CNBC Wednesday night, Jack Welch, GE's CEO from that firm's salad days in the '80s and '90s, pointed out the dangers of a three-house Democratic sweep. He says it's dangerous for both the stock market and the economy. And he wants to know why the St. Paul Republicans aren't running against Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama.

"With Pelosi and Reid pushing him," said We ...

Updated: Sat Sep 06, 2008

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The Sarah Surge in Black and White for 09/11/2008

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It's so much fun reading the newspapers these days. The Sarah surge continues to dominate all the political news, while the Palin-McCain — er, McCain-Palin — ticket is forging ahead in the polls.

But let's be fair. Even though Sen. McCain is now riding Gov. Palin's skirt tails, he was the one who made the brilliant decision to put her on the ticket. And the louder th ...

Updated: Thu Sep 11, 2008

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Paulson's Courageous Action for 09/17/2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is the man of the hour. This weekend he drew a clear line in the sand: no more federal bailouts. Not for Lehman Brothers. Not for global insurer AIG. Not for Merrill Lynch. Not for anyone.

It was a gutsy decision for the former Wall Street bigwig — and one that he had to step back from when it became clear that the collapse of AIG would be catastrop ...

Updated: Wed Sep 17, 2008

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Paulson's Courageous Action for 09/17/2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It was a gutsy decision for the former Wall Street bigwig. Paulson came to Washington two years ago thinking he could reform Social Securit ...

Updated: Wed Sep 17, 2008

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Never Sell America Short for 09/20/2008

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

We can fix this. If nothing else, that's the message I hope readers take away from this column. Of course, the "this" is the run on the world banking system. Stock markets have plunged globally, gold prices have shot up, and U.S. Treasury bill rates have plummeted to 10 basis points, the lowest since the 1950s.

We're witnessing a desperate flight to safety by investors. Folks a ...

Updated: Sat Sep 20, 2008

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Give Paulson a Clean Bill for 09/25/2008

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Honestly. A clean bill as requested by Treasury man Henry Paulson, along with John McCain's oversight board, can help fix the credit-crunch problem. It needn't be this hard.

According to the Paulson plan, distressed assets will be sold by banks through a reverse auction (the low bid wins) to various investment funds, hedgies, private-equity boys and other banks. And taxpayers will have a ...

Updated: Thu Sep 25, 2008

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A Paulson-Cantor Plan Is a Win-Win for 09/29/2008

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The single-biggest mistake in the Paulson bank-rescue-plan marketing effort has been the failure to explain clearly how taxpayers are going to recoup $700 billion used to buy toxic assets at auction in order to unfreeze the banking system. In other words, folks don't understand how taxpayers will be paid back, and may actually make profits, which will enable the new government debt to ...

Updated: Mon Sep 29, 2008

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Our Bair Necessity for 10/02/2008

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You know what? Hank Paulson may not be the most powerful financial person in the country right now. That honor goes to Sheila Bair, the chairman of the FDIC.

In recent weeks, Bair has held the banking system together, coordinating smooth takeovers of distressed banks in deals run and controlled by her agency. I wouldn't exactly say she's flying under the radar screen since these ...

Updated: Thu Oct 02, 2008

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McCain Must Talk Growth and Recovery for 10/07/2008

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John McCain needs a knockout performance at Tuesday night's presidential debate if he is to keep his hopes alive.

Right now polls paint a dismal picture for Sen. McCain. Rasmussen shows Obama leading 52 to 44, Obama's highest level ever. (Moving above 50 percent is a key indicator.) The RealClearPolitics average has Obama up 6 points. InTrade shows Obama up by 34 points. It also could be ...

Updated: Tue Oct 07, 2008

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Will McCain Make the Investor Connection? for 10/09/2008

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

While the presidential candidates were debating in Nashville on Tuesday night, the Asian stock markets were selling off by 10 percent. Earlier in the day, the U.S. market plunged by 500 points. These were big-time drops, yet presidential debaters never talk about the stock market. Nashville was no exception.

Roughly $2 trillion in U.S. shareholder capital has been lost in the past 15 mon ...

Updated: Thu Oct 09, 2008

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The Light at the End of the Crisis for 10/11/2008

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Fear and panic have taken over the stock market, the banking system and the economy. It is one of those moments in history when people feel helpless, frustrated and bewildered about what's going on and why it's happening.

Stocks are being pummeled in ways we haven't seen in nearly a century, both here and overseas. The Dow Jones is down nearly 20 percent this week, its second worst week ...

Updated: Sat Oct 11, 2008

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Reagan + Friedman + Keynes: We Need All the Help We Can Get. for 10/24/2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Back in early 1981, when I went to Washington to work for President Reagan, one of the architects of supply-side economics, Columbia University's Robert Mundell, visited my OMB budget-bureau office inside the White House complex. At the time, we were suffering from double-digit inflation, sky-high interest rates, a long economic downturn and a near 15-year bear market in stocks.

So I ask ...

Updated: Fri Oct 24, 2008

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Is Obama Swiping the Tax Cut Issue? for 11/04/2008

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Wouldn't it be the height of irony if Barack Obama wins this election as the Ronald Reagan tax-cutter? His tax plans are severely flawed, and his campaign narrative to support them is all wrong. And yet a recent Rasmussen poll shows that 31 percent of voters believe Obama is the real tax-cutter, while only 11 percent choose McCain.

Believe it or not, Obama seems to have swiped t ...

Updated: Tue Nov 04, 2008

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Bush Shows Obama the Way for 11/14/2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

President George W. Bush came out fighting for free markets with a strong and stirring defense of American capitalism on the eve of the G-20 World Economic Conference. Stocks soared 550 points Thursday, as Bush's luncheon speech was played live on all the major cable networks. It was as though Bush was trying to leave an economic primer to his successor-elect Barack Obama. Markets cheered becau ...

Updated: Fri Nov 14, 2008

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Tarp the TARP for 11/20/2008

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has called for a pause in the financing request for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), halting it at $350 billion. (The original request was for $700 billion.) I think that's an excellent idea. But in a recent hearing of Rep. Barney Frank's Financial Services Committee, Democrats went ballistic at the thought of no more TARP money. They want to keep spen ...

Updated: Thu Nov 20, 2008

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Obama's Pro-Growth Economic Team? for 11/27/2008

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

When President-elect Obama had a chance to squash the tax-hike threat once and for all at his news conference Monday, he took a pass and let the question linger for another day. But his new economic Cabinet appointments strongly suggest there will be no tax hikes next year.

Stocks, for one, like what they're seeing from Obama's latest Cabinet selections. On Friday, Obama announced Tim Ge ...

Updated: Thu Nov 27, 2008

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Where to Draw the Bailout Line? for 12/11/2008

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The bailout-nation saga continued this week, as the little-three carmakers from Detroit drove to Washington to plead for a $34 billion federal package to save themselves from bankruptcy and insolvency. Hot on their heels was a devastating report of 533,000 lost jobs in November. Actually, it's a loss of 732,000 jobs, including downward revisions from the prior two months. Unemployment moved up ...

Updated: Thu Dec 11, 2008

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Who's Losing the U.S. Car Business? for 12/16/2008

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

After Chairman Mao's revolution about 60 years ago, people in the United States played the blame game by asking, "Who lost China?" Well, following the breakdown of an arduous seven-hour Senate negotiating session on Thursday night, many are asking, "Who lost the U.S. car business?"

Right after the United Auto Workers vetoed a compromise, bankruptcy-lite — the De ...

Updated: Tue Dec 16, 2008

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Shock-and-Awe Easing for 12/18/2008

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

In a monetary version of shock-and-awe, the Federal Reserve unleashed a massive easing move with its Federal Open Market Committee policy announcement Tuesday — one that represents a sea change in central-bank operations.

For starters, Bernanke & Co. established a new target range for the federal funds rate of zero to one-quarter percent. That's right: zero to one-quarter perce ...

Updated: Thu Dec 18, 2008

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Time for a Choice -- Not an Echo for 01/01/2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is absolutely right to warn against Obama's gigantic stimulus-spending package. McConnell says it "will be the largest spending bill in the history of our country at a time when our national debt is already the largest in history." As a result, he says the bill "will require tough scrutiny and oversight."

According to McConnell ...

Updated: Thu Jan 01, 2009

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