Larry Kudlow's Idiotic Take on our "Goldilocks Economy"

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot Moderator Democratic Underground)

So, as you may know, ReaganBushClintonBush laissez-faire economic policies and an utter lack of regulation on the lending industry have created a bubble in housing, which paired with stagnant wages and soaring prices on food and energy is now threatening to collapse our economy with a slow-motion crash that may eventually dwarf the Great Depression.

So is the answer a more progressive income tax to help correct the gaping disparity in income? An end to policies that allow or encourage US businesses to send so many their jobs to the third world? Stronger regulation on predatory lenders and monetary policy that encourages saving?

Of course not! According to Mr. white lapel-yellow-tie-blue-shirt himself, the answer is the same as it was in 1981, 1994 and 2001, more tax cuts for big business and the rich!

Enjoy...

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDFlMzUwODVkOWEzZGIyYjI2OWFmMTE5NGQ3Mjg4Mjk=

Goldilocks Needs Tax-Reform . . .
. . . not root-canal economic populism.

By Larry Kudlow

Yes, corporate profits are slowing and jobs are softening. Despite 52 months of ongoing jobs gains and 1.3 million new payrolls in the past year, December jobs registered only 18,000 and the unemployment rate ticked back up to (a still historically low) 5 percent. Despite years of gains from a booming business sector, corporate profits are in fact falling at about a 6 percent clip. (Don't you love how his PRIMARY concern is corporate profits? I know that's what keeps me up at night...)

But the last thing we need now is root-canal economic populism from the campaign trail and the mainstream media telling us that Americans are unhappy. Unhappy? According to a Gallup Poll released last week, “Most Americans say they are generally happy, with a slim majority saying they are ‘very happy.’” (never mind that the poll in question was NOT asking people about their economic situation...) They’re also prosperous. According to Investor’s Business Daily, household wealth in the U.S. soared 51 percent to $58.6 trillion in last year’s third quarter from $38.8 trillion in 2002. (As always, the right-winger cites an average or a total, glossing over the fact that only the upper echelons of income earners have seen any real wage gains in many years...)

Meanwhile, the Goldilocks economy (What does that mean? This economy broke into our homes, ate our porridge, broke our chair, slept in our bed, then escaped out the window? Well, I guess that actually kinda makes sense...) remains alive and well. It’s still the greatest story never told. (A great tear-jerker maybe...) And while Goldilocks may have softened somewhat, getting her back on track is not rocket science. (I'll leave this mixed metaphor to the reader to try to comprehend...)

The key thing to remember is that businesses drive the economy. Businesses create jobs and incomes for consumers to spend. Today’s John Edwards/Mike Huckabee anti-business populism sounds more like William Jennings Bryan than Adam Smith. It’s absolutely crazy. They attack Wall Street and investors, which is another way of attacking capital. Without capital investment, there will be no new business, no new jobs, and no middle class. (Um...in case you haven't noticed, there's not much of a middle class left, thanks to 27 years straight of Reaganomics and Greenspanomics. But just wait and see who Kudlow considers "middle class")

The breaking and entering or the part where the bears come home and have lunch?

I was surprised to find that Goldilocks Economy is a popular term among economists to describe an economy that's not too hot, not too cold.

Apparently I was the last person to hear of it.

Thanks.

As much as I would love to comply, I went to some trouble to stick in my little pithy commentary and now it's all gone :cry:


And I hate to think of people giving National Review Online any hits... :grr:

Also financial market regulation regarding credit markets. However, I do maintain the economy is not fundamentally on the verge of a total meltdown. We need adjustments certainly, but I dispute the idea we are heading for a Great Depression.

It's implied.