Economy

Things May Not Be Fine After All, Kudlow Says

Written by SK Ashby

It was literally just yesterday morning when Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the Trump regime is not considering stimulus in response to the coronavirus and that temporary stimulus doesn't work anyway, but today is a new day.

Today, Kudlow appeared on Bloomberg Television where he said he's "in the camp" considering temporary stimulus that doesn't work according to him.

One option under consideration is deferring taxes for the already-hit cruise, travel and airline industries, according to a person familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity.

We are in the camp that wants timely and targeted micro-measures,” Kudlow told Bloomberg Television Friday. He rejected initiatives that are “large, sweeping, hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars that don’t affect incentives and don’t affect growth in any permanent way,” referring to such plans as “budget busters.”

Those large, sweeping stimulus packages, like the package signed into law by President Obama in 2009, are the only thing that 'affect growth in a permanent way.' Deferring taxes for the travel industry certainly isn't going to do shit.

If stimulus of some description is eventually passed, I'm certain it will based on whatever members of Congress come up with. It won't be based on plans from the Trump White House which seems incapable of drafting plans.

The Trump regime has backed themselves into a corner because a tanking economy will be bad for Trump's political image, but admitting that the economy is tanking is also bad for Trump's image. In any case, their number one concern is how things look for Trump himself.

Economic reports from the Commerce and Labor departments released this week showed business as usual in February, but those reports largely predate the outbreak of the coronavirus here in the United States. It's anyone's guess what will happen next.