Former Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow conceded that his prediction of a looming recession was wrong and admitted that the U.S. economy is doing much better than expected under President Joe Biden.
Talking on Fox News’ America Reports on Thursday, Kudlow offered a “mea culpa.”
“I was wrong about the slowdown and the recession. So was the entire forecasting fraternity,” Kudlow, now a Fox Business Network host, said.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis’ report on January 25 showed that the country’s gross domestic production grew beyond expectation by 3.3 percent in the last quarter. Biden has been celebrating the latest GDP data as a victory for his administration and proof that his economic policies have worked to keep the economy afloat and help it recover after the pandemic.
KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images
“Today we learned that the U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent over the past year while adding another 2.7 million jobs, and with core inflation moving back down towards the pre-pandemic benchmark,” Biden said in a statement last week. “As a result, wages, wealth, and employment are higher now than they were before the pandemic. That’s good news for American families and American workers. That is three years in a row of growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up on my watch.”
Commenting on the new GDP data on January 25, Kudlow said: “If I were he, I would be bragging about it too.”
The state of the U.S. economy is expected to play a crucial role in the upcoming presidential election, which is now shaping up to be a likely rematch between Biden and Trump.
Earlier this week, Kudlow said on Fox Business Network that “nobody got 2023 right,” adding that the mismatch between predictions and what actually happened is a question forecasters and economists will have to look into.
On Wednesday, he said: “Nobody expected a 3 percent plus growth rate in the second half of 2023. […] We were supposed to have had either a big slowdown or recession. Exactly the opposite happened. I’m not even looking at this left vs. right. This is something for the economics profession to sort through.”
Americans are starting to warm up to Biden’s economic policies too, despite an existing gap between the state of the economy and voters’ perception in polling.
According to the latest Consumer Confidence Survey from The Conference Board, Americans’ feelings about business and labor market conditions have jumped to their highest level in two years.
The Consumer Confidence Index released on Tuesday went up to nearly 115 in January from December’s rate of 108—the highest level since December 2021.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.