Larry Kudlow: Plutocratic Douchebag

Larry Kudlow explains why Wall Street needs our money, but we don’t.

I wasn’t going to write anything for this site today, but then I happened to catch part of the Kudlow Report tonight on CNBC. It was thoroughly infuriating. Larry Kudlow was talking about the reduced cost of the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Now, in case you missed that story, from NPR:

“Large banks are repaying the bailout money they received much faster than expected. The administration says the cost of the TARP program will be about $200 billion less than estimated. Big financial firms are making profits again because the government has driven down borrowing costs for banks and safeguarded their debts.”

“Safeguarded their debts” is a euphemism for “saddled the taxpayers with the responsibility for the banks’ toxic assets and have extended huge lines of credit to them.” The government has promised Citigroup that it would cover up to $277 billion in losses for that firm alone!

Anyway, Kudlow was interviewing Senator John Thune (R - South Carolina), talking about the possibility of the $200 billion going towards what the former called a “Democratic slush fund,” instead of paying down debt. Kudlow seemed to be particularly concerned about the prospect of the money being spent on “social safety nets” and a jobs creation plan that might be on Obama’s agenda. Put another way, Kudlow doesn’t want the money going to social programs, such as unemployment insurance, health care, and education.

Ok, so Kudlow’s a stickler for paying down the national debt, and “protecting the taxpayers,” as he likes to say. There’s nothing wrong with that. But wait. Let’s rewind to the days right before TARP was passed by Congress in what was a hideous betrayal of American public opinion. See what Kudlow told Senator Bernie Sanders (I - Vermont) in the first 30 seconds of this clip:

Later in the interview Kudlow claimed of TARP, “This is a bailout…of Main Street, of middle class folks who desperately need credit.”

Bull. Shit. Desperately need credit? What the hell does he think caused this crisis in the first place? High interest rates? A deflationary spiral? Credit was the last thing Main Street needed then or needs now. What the fuck was this man talking about? If anyone can make any sense of this comment, email me or post to the Facebook page.

But back to the main point of this post; Kudlow’s position on TARP and the $200 billion left over from it tell us all we need to know about him and the fuckers at CNBC, and the business world in general. To review, Kudlow heartily supported a $700 billion government bailout of Wall Street financial institutions that were in the shitter for no reason other than their own greed. When it is discovered that $200 billion of the TARP will not be necessary, Kudlow goes out of his way to express concern that the money will go directly to Main Street, which is in the shitter because of the greedy assholes on Wall Street.

If you watched the rest of the video above, (beginning at the 3:35 mark) Sanders pointed out that Kudlow is mortified by the idea that the government spend money for health care or the alleviation childhood poverty, but he has no qualms about forking over hefty sums of money to the giant vampire squids of Wall Street.

Should we be surprised that some douche can go on TV, lobby for the rescue of plutocrats from their own greed-driven death spirals, emphatically state that the extra money from this enterprise has no business going towards “social safety nets,” and then not get his studio burned down by an angry mob with him inside? On CNBC, probably not. The hoi polloi aren’t exactly known for following the business press—or any press for that matter. But one gets the sense that even if, say, some working class teabagger had been watching this, there would be nods of approval at Kudlow’s remarks while ignoring his outrageous double standard: socialism for the rich, capitalism for everyone else.

That’s where we’re at in this country. They don’t even try to hide it anymore. Larry Kudlow can go on television and advocate giving taxpayer money to Wall Street banks, but then say that the government has no business spending taxpayer money on programs for the taxpayers. That is his idea of “protecting the taxpayers.”

Larry Fucking Kudlow, ladies and gentlemen.

- Max