Here’s Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, responding to the spreading talk of a possible recession on August 18, 2019:
“I don’t see a recession at all,” Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he urged Americans, “Let’s not be afraid of optimism.
“Consumers are working at higher wages,” Kudlow said. “They are spending at a rapid pace. They’re actually saving also while they’re spending. That’s an ideal situation. So I think actually the second half, the economy’s going to be very good in 2019.”
Here's Larry Kudlow on December 7, 2007:
“There’s no recession coming. The pessimistas were wrong. It’s not going to happen. . . . The Bush boom is alive and well. It’s finishing up it sixth consecutive year with more to come.”
Here he is on January 16, 2008:
“[B]anks are taking significant steps to repair their balance sheets. Even though some people might not be happy with the speed, the reality is things are improving.”
Here he is on February 5, 2008:
“I’m going to bet that the economy will be rebounding sometime this summer, if not sooner. We are in a slow patch. That’s all. It’s nothing to get up in arms about.”
And then there’s Larry Kudlow on April 1, 2008, saying that recessions are “therapeutic”:
If the current slump began in November, it could be over by late summer.
And let’s also remember that recessions are therapeutic. They’re even necessary to create the foundations for the next recovery. Economic excesses always occur in free-market capitalist economies, and from time to time they must be cleansed. Just think about the excessive risk-speculation, leverage, and housing prices of the current episode. If anything, recessions make for clean starts.
Clean starts. Uh-huh. Tell that to the millions of people who still haven’t fully recovered from the damage caused them in the recession Kudlow says wasn’t going to happen 12 years ago.
