Larry Kudlow: 'This Idea Makes Me Very Uncomfortable'

"'Kudlow' panelists Steve Moore and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., discuss a potential U.S. government stake in Intel and 2026 tax cuts." 

Source:FOX Business anchor Lawrence Kudlow.

From FOX Business

Erick Erickson has weighed in on the Trump Administration's state socialism proposal as well: 

"Time and time again, when the government gets involved, the leviathan grows and both the Middle Class and small businesses get the shaft. Innovation stalls and economic growth slows. Go back to the buckets. As the government issues more debt, more people buy public debt instead of investing in the public sector. The government’s bucket fills up with money that does not go to shareholders, workers, investors, innovation, or growth.

The Trump Administration is now bragging that over $150 billion has been generated from tariffs. Some of that comes from American businesses. But some of that comes from American consumers. More of it will come from consumers soon as companies raise prices. That is more money in the government bucket, not the private sector bucket.

Now, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is urging the government to become the largest shareholder of Intel. Some defend it by citing national security reasons, ignoring the government does not own shares in other defense contractors. Others defend it because Trump is in charge, so damn the principle. But like with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Motors, etc. all this will do is increase burdens on American taxpayers, decrease efficiency in the private sector that will slow growth, and puts a major American microchip company in the position of doing what the government wants, not what is best for the company...

You can read Erick Erickson's full blog post.

Austrian-British economist Friedrich Hayek I believe has always had the best quote about socialism: 

"If socialists understood economics, they wouldn't be socialists".

I'm going to give you a little background on both Larry Kudlow and Erick Erickson before I weigh on what the Trump Administration is trying to do here with their state socialist proposal here. 

From what I wrote back in May in response to what Conservative columnist Kevin Williamson wrote arguing about President's Trump's... let's say socialist tendencies: 

"I could give you old cliche to talk about whether or not Donald Trump is a Socialist or not, by saying: "If it quacks, like a duck, walks like a duck.. but hopefully you want to hear something more interesting than that. I sure as hell want to say something even more original and interesting (ha, ha) than that. 

I think what's going on here, is the President and The White House know they're in trouble: 

House Republicans are freaking out about not just losing the House in 2026, but getting blown out and not having much of an opportunity about winning it back in 28. 

Senate Republicans are even worried that maybe even their majority will be at risk in 26, because of what House Republicans are worried about as well, which is who unpopular the President is, especially as it relates to his economic policy. 

And The White House is out of believable, positive spin, The Donald himself has even run out of decent lies in how to spin his bad economy, (I guess the Trump tariffs have even hurt TrumpLies.Inc) so they're desperate and are trying to come up with anything that they can think of at the time, to try to justify (because they can't spin) the weaknesses in the American economy right now. 

So Donald John Trump: the Manhattan real estate mogul, the self-proclaimed billionaire, the "king of reality TV", sounding like a Socialist, because he's talking about sacrifice and the need for Americans to cut back. When no one in his White House, including himself, would ever even consider cutting back anything that they enjoy in life, to benefit someone else who isn't doing as well... I don't think there's anything more to it then what I just laid out. Donald Trump is not a Socialist... but he's a desperate politician, to the point if sounding like a Socialist is what he needs to do to improve his political fortune, that's exactly what he will do." 

From The New Democrat

This is what I wrote about Mr. Kudlow back in March: 

"The title of this video is: "Karoline Leavitt: Trump is Working 24/7 To Bring Down The Cost of Living". But if you bothered to watch the video (and I don't blame you if you didn't) nothing in there about bringing down the cost of living in America. Which by the way, Donald Trump promised he would "eliminate inflation on day 1 of his presidency". You got of a lot of talking points and claims from Karoline Leavitt about what the Trump Administration is doing, with no facts to back her up. And Larry Kudlow as well Ms. Leavitt blaming the current problems with the economy on Joe Biden. But nothing in there about what the Trump Administration is doing to bring down the cost of living. 

And after announcing new tariffs on Canada and Mexico today, which will just make groceries more expensive, along with deporting farm workers, which affects the price of eggs and milk in America, you would think Kudow & Company would want to talk to the White House Press Secretary about how the President plans to make the cost of living in America more affordable, since it's now more expensive since he became POTUS 6 weeks ago." 

From The New Democrat

This is some of what I wrote about Mr. Kudlow back in June: 

"Like a lot of other people and things that Donald John Trump has touched right before they died, (to paraphrase Rick Wilson) Larry Kudlow before Donald Trump took over the Republican Party and turned it into the MAGA Party... was a neoconservative, supply-side, business oriented and economics oriented, Northeast, country club, Republican and political commentator. But now he acts like Donald John Trump is God himself and backs everything that he does and goes out-of-his-way to make it 100% that he always backs The Don 100% of the time, regardless of what the President is doing and saying. 

The President could call for nationalizing private universities and banks because he doesn't like their politics and Kudlow would claim: "The President is standing up for real Americans". 

I would love to know who kidnapped Larry Kudlow and who they got to replace him. The guy on FOX Business looks like Kudlow, but he sure as hell no longer sounds like him." 

From The New Democrat

And here's a little background on Erick Erickson: 

"Erick Woods Erickson (born June 3, 1975) is an American conservative talk radio host, blogger, and former politician. He hosts a three-hour weekday talk show on WSB 95.5 FM and 750 AM in Atlanta, which is syndicated to other radio stations around the U.S. He also writes a political blog called The Resurgent. Prior to this, he was editor-in-chief and CEO of another conservative political blog called RedState.[2] He was a political contributor for CNN from 2010 to 2013, and afterwards was a contributor to the Fox News Channel before leaving the network in 2018... 

From Wikipedia

I give you all of this background, profile information of both Larry Kudlow and Erick Erickson, because I think there's a runaway pandemic as it relates to insomnia and I think if people just read this stuff, they'll fall asleep and immediately start to catch up on the last 6 months or so that they've gone without any real sleep. Actually, I have another reason for doing this. Some might even argue that it's even better than the first 1. 

My real point here is it's not Democrats (at least not left-wing Democrats) who are freaking out about the Trump Administration's using the U.S. Government to purchase a stake in Intel. Most of the opposition is coming from the Right, in some cases, even the far-right, especially if you look at where Erick Erickson has been on cultural issues the last 20 years or so. 

So if you are a die hard MAGA follower, who has been living in this political cult the last 10 years or so... you are so lost in space, that you might be able to make 1 of Charlie Manson's followers seem very sane and sober. But if I were try to talk to you anyway, (perhaps like some dedicated shrink who simply wants to try to help as many of my patients as possible) and even use reason (which is very out-of-style right now) to try to get you to see the light here, I would tell you too look at the Kudlow's, the Erickson's, the Steve Moore's, because they would tell you why this is such a horrible idea. 

As Erick Erickson's said on his blog post: 

"When the federal government took control of General Motors, GM no longer engaged in risk assessed based on shareholder value and economic value, but in political risk... 

I would add to that, once the Feds become part of a private company, that company starts taking more bad risks because they now know they have the taxpayers there to bail them out. Unlike if they are completely in private hands, there's no guarantee of even a private buyout if they go under or pile on so much debt from their own bad investments, that they either have to be bailed out, or go into public bankruptcy. 

As I've said before, (or something close to this) Larry Kudlow, Erick Erickson, and Steve Moore, are no one's radical Hippies or flaming Socialists. Pre-Trump, both Kudlow and Moore would be what you would describe as Northeastern, country club, neoconservative, supply-side, Republicans. They were people who believed that government should be out of the private sector and just let companies operate freely in what they would call a free market. 

Erick Erickson, perhaps a little to the left (key word being little) but he's basically the Gen-X, male version of someone like a Phyllis Schlafly from the 1960s and 70s. Very radical as a right-wing culture warrior, but not a racist or an ethnic bigot. But someone you could describe as a true believer when it comes to what has been called Christian Nationalism. But someone who combined his radical, right-wing cultural war politics, with a more conservative-libertarian view of government when it comes to economic policy. 

So when even have people who are true Conservatives when it comes to economic policy, tell you that state socialism is a really bad idea and you are also on the Right, you should at least listen to them. Unless you are not a Conservative, and more of a State Socialist and someone who thinks: 

"Nazism wasn't that bad. Maybe we should try that here so our companies could be pro-American again". 

Or however you would phrase that yourself. 

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