Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLarry Kudlow wanted Bush to invade Iraq because the "shock value" would "elevate the stock market"
Kudlow is not, as he and some of his fiercest critics insist, a supply-side economist who believes tax cuts cure all ills. For Kudlow, tax cuts are merely instrumental. They are the key to prosperity and freedom, as he subtitled one of his books, because they are a simple, sure-fire way to elevate stock values.
Kudlow believes the stock market to be the ultimate measure of human progress. His economic commentary and analysis typically reduces all of social existence to one simple quantitative metric, enabling him to ignore or even celebrate every other accompanying evil. This is most explicitly stated in his semi-infamous 2002 National Review column urging Bush to invade Iraq. The shock therapy of decisive war will elevate the stock market by a couple-thousand points, Kudlow declared.
During the Cold War, such straightforward enthusiasm for war profiteering would have been laughed off as Leninist propaganda (Lenin believed imperialism to be the last phase of capitalism before its inevitable collapse). But Kudlow was perfectly sincere. He saw the stock market as a manifestation of the pained expressions on our faces and wanted a small war to revive the American spirit.
Kudlow expressed a similar sentiments about the Bill Clinton presidency. When Clinton raised taxes on the highest-earning households in 1993, Kudlow called it a wet blanket? that would impede growth. By the end of the Clinton presidency, however, he was declaring the previous eight years an economic victory for Ronald Reagan. This was revealed not by looking at economic growth, or unemployment or wage levels, but by a quick glance at the stock market. According to Kudlow, the Clinton-era prosperity had really started much earlier ― the Gipper had ushered in an 18-year bull market on Wall Street. And for once, Kudlow missed an opportunity to score partisan points against Clinton. The Democratic presidents welfare reform doubled severe poverty in America, and the low unemployment of the late 1990s was built on a stock market bubble.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/larry-kudlow-is-the-perfect-embodiment-of-republican-economics_us_5aabcd91e4b0337adf832bf5
Kudlow believes the stock market to be the ultimate measure of human progress. His economic commentary and analysis typically reduces all of social existence to one simple quantitative metric, enabling him to ignore or even celebrate every other accompanying evil. This is most explicitly stated in his semi-infamous 2002 National Review column urging Bush to invade Iraq. The shock therapy of decisive war will elevate the stock market by a couple-thousand points, Kudlow declared.
During the Cold War, such straightforward enthusiasm for war profiteering would have been laughed off as Leninist propaganda (Lenin believed imperialism to be the last phase of capitalism before its inevitable collapse). But Kudlow was perfectly sincere. He saw the stock market as a manifestation of the pained expressions on our faces and wanted a small war to revive the American spirit.
Kudlow expressed a similar sentiments about the Bill Clinton presidency. When Clinton raised taxes on the highest-earning households in 1993, Kudlow called it a wet blanket? that would impede growth. By the end of the Clinton presidency, however, he was declaring the previous eight years an economic victory for Ronald Reagan. This was revealed not by looking at economic growth, or unemployment or wage levels, but by a quick glance at the stock market. According to Kudlow, the Clinton-era prosperity had really started much earlier ― the Gipper had ushered in an 18-year bull market on Wall Street. And for once, Kudlow missed an opportunity to score partisan points against Clinton. The Democratic presidents welfare reform doubled severe poverty in America, and the low unemployment of the late 1990s was built on a stock market bubble.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/larry-kudlow-is-the-perfect-embodiment-of-republican-economics_us_5aabcd91e4b0337adf832bf5
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
5 replies, 892 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (7)
ReplyReply to this post
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Larry Kudlow wanted Bush to invade Iraq because the "shock value" would "elevate the stock market" (Original Post)
Miles Archer
Mar 2018
OP
Sanity Claws
(21,852 posts)1. Did you mean invade, not evade?
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)2. Already fixed it.
dhol82
(9,353 posts)3. Great, we have another idiot who will call for another small war.
I just hope we can make it to November.
C_U_L8R
(45,018 posts)4. We might all get rich
...betting against Kudlow. This idiot is consistent.
Consistently wrong.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)5. So remember his bragging about
that on CNBC.