One of the Media Research Center’s favorite people when it needs someone to talk down the economy under President Biden is Larry Kudlow, host of a show on right-wing Fox Business. For instance, a January 2023 post touted Kudlow attacking John Kerry for his climate change initiatives while insisting that, in writer Renata Kiss’ words, “The robber barons of America turned the nation into the economic success it is today.” A February 2023 post by Kiss hyped Kudlow ranting about the economy:
Fox Business host Larry Kudlow ripped President Joe Biden’s abysmal economy and had a few choice words for the 2024 GOP presidential candidates.
Kudlow recounted the many failures of Biden’s economy during a Feb. 24 segment on Fox Business’ Kudlow. In addition, the host went tough on the 2024 GOP presidential candidates for their apparent lack of effort to address America’s urgent economic needs. “Where’s the Republican presidential campaign growth and prosperity solution plan?,” he asked. “So far I haven’t heard any of the leading candidates on this topic. Bidenomics has failed, so how is the GOP gonna turn failure into success?”
Kudlow blasted the soaring inflation rates in the Biden economy being exacerbated by reckless government spending.
“All the inflation reports in January were shockingly bad,” he said. “Energy is up almost 10 percent, food (is) up 11 percent, producer prices up 6 percent, consumer prices up 6.4 percent. The deficit is expected to double from 1.4 trillion today to nearly 3 trillion over the ten year window. Total deficits will come to 20.3 trillion dollars or an incredible 7.3 percent of GDP. Outside of wartime or a national emergency, these are shocking numbers never seen before.”
[…]Kudlow drove the point home by pointing out that “growth and prosperity is the single biggest issue out there and will remain so.” He continued: “There are a lot of issues, always are, but the lack of growth and prosperity dwarfs them all. I’m blowing the whistle on all of them. This here is tough love. We need economic stewardship, and we need it right away.”
But Kudlow has always been a bad prognosticator, particularly on economic issues — to the point that a 2019 Washington Post article is headlined “Maybe it’s time for Larry Kudlow to stop making predictions.” That record has continued: Last March, Kudlow declared that Donald Trump would not be indicted an hour before he was. Still, the MRC loves him. Nicolas Schau wrote in a Jan. 5 post:
The disastrous effects of Bidenomics are angering Americans in droves, and the media and politicians need to understand the reason behind this.
Fox Business anchor Larry Kudlow laid into the Biden administration’s horrible policies in the Jan. 2 edition of his eponymous show. “Right at the start of his term,” Kudlow said about President Joe Biden, “he front-loaded massive federal spending, regulations and his socialist Green New Deal war against fossil fuels. The result? Skyrocketing inflation.” Kudlow pointed out that the “legacy of Bidenomics mistakes” is “about plunging affordability.” He explained: “It’s the falling level of wages and the rising level of prices that has caused high anxiety” for Americans in Bidenomics.
Kudlow also noted the massive disapproval of Biden’s economy earlier in his remark. “President Biden and his staff are mystified at their continued basement-level economic polls,” Kudlow said. He cited a Fox News poll saying, “Biden’s economy is rating at just 21 percent, with 78 percent saying it’s in bad shape.”
The Fox Business host laughed about Biden’s reaction, saying, “Now, President Biden is blaming the media. Ha! Ha! Ha! But he should blame his own policies!”
But shockingly, Kudlow walked back his economic doomsaying a month later. As Mediaite reported:
Fox Business host and former Trump White House economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, offered an earnest “mea culpa” on Thursday for having predicted a looming recession – or even a slowdown.
“Sandra Smith, so you’re writing, texting me early in the morning, and all kinds of bad news. You know, I was kind of,” Kudlow began as Smith jumped in.
“Who else am I going to talk to about the economy?” Smith joked.
“I mean, my, mea culpa!” Kudlow replied, “I was wrong about the slowdown and the recession.”
“I think don’t think you were wrong,” offered Smith encouragingly.
“So was the entire forecasting fraternity. Well, the Fed, everyone was wrong. Ok. But you mentioned all these job layoffs. Tomorrow is the jobs numbers,” Kudlow continued[.]
The next day, Kudlow called out his fellow right-wingers for trying to cherry-pick numbers out of the January employment reports in an attempt to make Biden look bad:
Larry Kudlow extolled Friday’s jobs report showing that the U.S. added 353,000 jobs in January, which lowered the unemployment rate to 3.7%. The Fox Business host noted that conservatives may try to downplay the data, but, “It is what it is.”
The number of jobs added far exceeded economists’ expectations of 185,000.The former economic adviser to former President Donald Trump is a frequent critic of President Joe Biden, but on Friday’s edition of Kudlow, he offered a glowing assessment of the latest employment figures:
We had a blowout jobs report – more than twice the consensus expectation. Now, I know many of my conservative friends are trying to drill holes in this report. But you know what, folks? It is what it is. It’s a very strong report. Not every economic stat should be viewed through a political lens. I’ve been in this business a very long time, and sometimes you just have to throw away the ballot box and just recognize the numbers. They are what they are. This was a very strong report.
Kudlow says the data “is a good thing no matter what your party registration is.”
The MRC didn’t tell its readers about any of Kudlow’s praise for the Biden economy — it’s more important to perpetuate the narrative of economic ruin under Biden, no matter how inaccurate that is.