Trump’s new economic advisor has made more wrong calls on the economy than almost anyone else
The hodgepodge crew that has set up shop in government
When a person is hired for a job, you can safely assume that that person has the qualifications required for the job. And this is not talking about a perfect world. This is talking about this world. This world where people make mistakes and where nepotism and corruption are rife. Even in this wildly imperfect world, it is perfectly acceptable to presume that only qualified candidates are hired. This should be very dependable.
Trump appears to have no interest in such things. He apparently will hire whomever he pleases. He does not seem to bother with pesky things like reputations and qualifications. Not convinced? Well, why don’t we look at some of his latest appointments?
The Agriculture Department has someone called a chief scientist. Obviously, this position should be held by none other than a scientist. But, Trump was pushing to appoint a talk-radio host who most certainly is not a scientist. Then Trump took one of the real scientists he had on his side, well technically he is a brain surgeon, and had him run the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Thankfully the POTUS’ personal pilot didn’t get the job as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, although it was uncomfortably close. This kind of ill-advised hiring should raise its fair share of eyebrows, but Trump is not finished yet.
The economic disaster that is Larry Kudlow
With the roster that was just mentioned it is hard to believe that it could get any worse. It can get worse, and it has. Trumps new top economic advisor is a man called Larry Kudlow. Kudlow has no traditional training in economics and yet he is not shy about his opinions. Has he been wrong? Yes, he has. Has he been wrong only once? No, he has a long list of blunders that could be laughable if they weren’t so damaging.
In 1993 Kudlow was vehemently against President Clintons tax increases. These affected everything from labor to energy. Good old Larry believed that these would severely depress the economy in the long-run. They went on to aid in the creation of 21 million jobs and set the economy up for an expansion that lasted eight years. In 2001 he mouthed off again on the topic of taxes. This time around he was fully in support of the tax cuts that were put in place by President Bush.
He believed that they would increase budget surpluses and generate tax revenues. The exact opposite happened. Tax revenues took a nose-dive while budgets went into deficits. These blunders are considered to be sure, but they are not the worst calls that Kudlow made.
Kudlow’s stance prior to the housing crisis
In 2008 the housing bubble burst in America and its implosion exploded on a huge proportion of the population. Thousands of families were left destitute, and countless individuals lost everything. It launched the current Global Recession. In short, it was devastating. Those who are worth their salt in financial knowledge, saw the possible recession looming.
Larry Kudlow called these people pessimists. He believed that they were alarmists who were going to be proved spectacularly wrong. The new economic advisor even went on to say that the housing market was just going through a slow patch and that it would easily recover in the coming months. When this supposed recovery did not arrive promptly he did not budge. He stood firm in his belief that data suggested that there was an impending recovery.
His latest call is eerily like the one made in 2001. Apparently, Trump’s new tax cuts will bring about wonderfully high economic growth. Ten years ago, this man proved himself to be an absolute charlatan in the realm of economic forecasting. What are the chances that he is right this time around?
