Larry Kudlow

Color me cranky about this week’s Republican presidential debate in Iowa. The headline stories were about whether Newt Gingrich actually lobbied for Freddie Mac, or why Mitt Romney changed his positions on gay rights, guns and abortion. But a GOP growth message to defeat President Obama was completely missing in this debate. It was a supply-side whiff. (more)

The payroll tax cut debate is not really about the payroll tax, which is a very weak-kneed economic stimulant and a lackluster job creator because of its temporary nature. Without permanent incentives at lower tax rates, these rebates don’t do anything for growth and jobs. (more)

Say what you will about former Speaker Newt Gingrich. His philosophy, his policy proposals, his track record, his campaign and all the rest. But the one thing you have to acknowledge about Gingrich is that he’s a sizzler. He has a way with words. And he’s as good a communicator as anyone in modern politics. (more)

It’s often said that help comes to those who help themselves. But Europe can’t seem to help itself. So on Wednesday, the U.S. Fed came to the rescue. And that rescue triggered a global stock market rally, including a near 500-point gain in the United States. (more)

With a great feeling of loss and sadness, I want to join with so many others to mourn the passing of Ted Forstmann, the brilliant financier, entrepreneur, and free-market capitalist. (more)

It would be a great tragedy if a super tax hike came out of a supercommittee compromise deal. It would do great harm to the economy --- just as much harm as President Obama’s various tax-hike threats. And on the Republican side, a super tax hike would irreparably split the GOP. (more)

There were three winners in the CNBC debate: Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Gov. Rick Perry was the obvious loser because of his memory lapse. (more)

The world economy has once again dodged Armageddon. The European Union finally forged a Greek bond deal and established a rescue fund big enough to ring-fence banks and sovereign debt, in order to avoid a catastrophic, Lehman-like contagion event. At the same time, the U.S. economy moved away from the threat of recession with a third-quarter real GDP report of 2.5 percent. In response, stocks are soaring. We’ll live to see another day. (more)

According to Gallup, President Obama’s approval rating in the third quarter of 2011 averaged 41%, a new quarterly low. That adds to the thought that the winner of the GOP presidential primary sweepstakes is going to be the next president. (more)

Herman Cain is the only GOP presidential candidate who wants to kill the tax code. That’s right. Put a knife in it. Junk the entire system. And people are cheering as he rises in the polls in his quest for the nomination. (more)

Team Obama is out and about mourning a “double-dip recession,” while Fed head Ben Bernanke is warning of a faltering economy. I have described the current economic environment as the front end of a recession. (more)

The stronger-than-expected ISM manufacturing-index reading for September might normally suggest that the economy, at least for now, has dodged a recession bullet. After zero jobs and zero real consumer spending in August, which put the stalled economy on the front end of recession, the ISM number is the first major September reading. (more)

So just when everyone had concluded the Chris Christie matter --- saying “Great speech at the Reagan Library, but he’s not gonna run for president” --- The New York Post comes along with a story that says the New Jersey governor is seriously considering a 2012 run. Apparently the Reagan Library experience had a big impact on Christie and others. He’s now being urged to go for it by Nancy Reagan, Henry Kissinger, former president George W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush. (more)

Stocks collapsed roughly 700 points over two days after the Federal Reserve launched its “Operation Twist.” The market correctly perceives that the central bank’s plan to swap $400 billion of short-term notes for long-term bonds adds no new reserves to the financial system. So it wasn’t QE3, that’s for sure. No stimulus. In fact, with the Treasury yield curve flattening, the Fed’s sterilized asset swap actually tightened financial markets. (more)

It could almost make your head spin. With an economy on the front end of another recession, President Obama’s tax attack on the folks who are most likely to succeed, invest, start new businesses and create jobs is nothing short of staggering. Only liberal-left class-warfare ideology can explain this. (more)

New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, in a radio interview on Friday, warned that high unemployment could lead to widespread rioting. That’s right. He actually said that. At a time when European cities have suffered massively from hooliganism, and at a time when U.S. towns like Philadelphia and Kansas City have suffered huge human and commercial tolls from so-called flash riots. (more)

Who would have really expected a 300-point stock market plunge on the day after President Obama’s so-called jobs speech? (more)

No sooner had President Obama shocked the political world with a gloomy economic forecast --- projecting 9.1 percent unemployment for this year and a reelection-killing 9 percent for 2012 --- than the dismal August jobs report arrived showing no gain in nonfarm payrolls. That’s right, no gain at all. Private jobs increased by a scant 17,000, while hours worked and wages actually declined. Obama’s economic policies have failed. (more)

Get ready for a bunch of demand-side economists to tell you that the post-Hurricane Irene rebuilding phase is actually a good thing for future economic growth. But don’t believe it. (more)

Gov. Rick Perry scorched the political pot on Tuesday with a red-hot rhetorical attack on Fed-head Ben Bernanke. When asked about the Fed reopening the monetary spigots, Perry said, “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas.” (more)