Cross-posted at Tall Tales
Having demonstrated unrivaled short-sightedness in 2007 about both the stock market and the overall economy (see quotes below the fold), television's top supply-side commentator and perennial Bush booster -- Larry Kudlow -- decided to double down last week:
Friday, November 14, 2008
Bush Shows Obama the Way
The president reminds the president-elect that free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity....
Stocks soared 550 points Thursday as Bush’s luncheon speech was played live on all the major cable networks....
Bush has provided a strong visionary dose of big-picture economic prosperity and optimism that can lead the U.S. and the rest of the world out of its economic doldrums.
Today's top headline from Kudlow's employer, CNBC:
Dow Ends Below 8,000, More Than 5-Year Low
The broader S&P 500 index has now lost 48% of its value since last October.
Even more embarrassing for Kudlow is the long-term trend under Bush.
The S&P 500 is now down 40% since Bush took office in January 2001 (from 1,342.54 to 806.58).
Still, Kudlow is not deterred:
It may be too much to ask, but perhaps [Obama] will give President Bush’s marvelous speech a close read. There is much wisdom there. And there is no iron-clad reason why a Democrat can’t adopt the economic-growth model that has worked so well and so long for this country.
The strong economic growth model?
George W. Bush?
Even the President isn't making that claim anymore. Here's Bush, in a portion of his speech Kudlow conveniently ignores:
I'm a market oriented guy, but not when I'm faced with the prospect of a global meltdown
The President was even more explicit over the weekend:
Those of you who have followed my career know that I'm a free market person -- until you're told that if you don't take decisive measures then it's conceivable that our country could go into a depression greater than the Great Depression.
Wondering why Kudlow might be ignoring those stark admissions from the President about the real state of the Bush Economy?
Well, it certainly wouldn't make Kudlow's victory dance in 2007 look very good:
The budget deficit has plunged while the economy has soared. Think of it as the Bush Boom—think of it as another ‘W’ in the win column for supply-side economics ....
Oops.
But that wasn't all. In addition to claiming premature victory for trickle-down economics, Kudlow went even further in October of 2007 and predicted "a Golidlocks stock market rally that could add another 1000 points to the Dow over the next six months."
The Dow actually dropped 1,500 points over the next six months, and is now down over 6,000 points since Kudlow's prediction of a "Goldilocks" rally.
***
Kudlow's "Bush Boom" and "Goldilocks" comments collected in Yeah, Right, pages 57 & 63
Yeah, Right: "This Economy Is Strong" and Other Tall Tales