Larry Kudlow | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Kudlow at theConservative Political Action Conference (2016) | |
| 12th Director of theNational Economic Council | |
| In office April 2, 2018 – January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Gary Cohn |
| Succeeded by | Brian Deese |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lawrence Alan Kudlow (1947-08-20)August 20, 1947 (age 78) Englewood,New Jersey, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic (before 1981) Republican (1981–present) |
| Spouses | |
| Education | University of Rochester (BA) Princeton University (attended) |
Lawrence Alan Kudlow (born August 20, 1947) is an Americanconservative broadcast news analyst, economist, columnist, journalist, political commentator, and radio personality. He is a financial news commentator forFox Business and served as the director of theNational Economic Council during theTrump administration from 2018 to 2021. He assumed that role after his previous employment as aCNBC television financial news host.[1][2] He is the vice chair of the board of theAmerica First Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank founded to promote anAmerica First public policy agenda.[3][4]
Kudlow began his career as a junior financial analyst at theNew York Federal Reserve. He soon left government to work onWall Street atPaine Webber andBear Stearns as afinancial analyst. In 1981, after previously volunteering and working forleft-wing politicians and causes, Kudlow joined the administration ofRonald Reagan as associate director for economics and planning in theOffice of Management and Budget.[5]
After leaving the Reagan administration during the second term, Kudlow returned to Wall Street and Bear Stearns, serving as the firm'schiefeconomist from 1987 until 1994. During this time, he also advised the gubernatorial campaign ofChristine Todd Whitman on economic issues. In the late 1990s, after a publicized battle with cocaine and alcoholaddiction, Kudlow left Wall Street to become an economics and financial commentator – first withNational Review, and later hosting several shows onCNBC.
Kudlow was born and raised inNew Jersey, the son of Ruth (née Grodnick) and Irving Howard Kudlow.[6] His family isJewish. He attended theElisabeth Morrow School inEnglewood, New Jersey, until the sixth grade. He then attended theDwight-Englewood School through high school.[7]
He graduated from theUniversity of Rochester inRochester, New York, with a bachelor's degree in history in 1969.[8] According toThe New York Times, "While he had no extensive formal training in economics, he had an innate understanding of how markets worked and was comfortable with numbers. And he worked hard to teach himself."[5]
In 1971, Kudlow enrolled in the master's program atPrinceton University'sWoodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, but he left before completing his degree.[9]
Kudlow began his career as a staff economist at theFederal Reserve Bank of New York.[9] He worked in the division of the Fed that handledopen market operations.
In 1970, while he was still a Democrat, Kudlow joinedAmericans for Democratic Action chairJoseph Duffey's "New Politics" senatorial campaign in Connecticut which also attracted an "A-list crowd of young Democrats", includingYale University law studentBill Clinton,John Podesta, andMichael Medved, another future conservative. Duffey was a leadinganti-war politician during the Vietnam war era. Duffey's campaign manager called Kudlow a "brilliant organizer".[9] In 1976, he worked on the U.S. Senate campaign ofDaniel Patrick Moynihan, along withTim Russert, againstConservative Party incumbentJames L. Buckley, brother ofWilliam F. Buckley Jr.[10]
During the first term of theReagan administration (1981–1985), Kudlow was associate director for economics and planning in theOffice of Management and Budget (OMB), a part of theExecutive Office of the President.[11]
In 1987, Kudlow was hired byBear Stearns as its chief economist and senior managing director. Kudlow also served as an economic counsel to A. B. Laffer & Associates, theSan Diego, California, company owned byArthur Laffer, a majorsupply-sideeconomist and promoter of the "Laffer Curve", an economic measure of the relationship between tax levels and government revenue. Kudlow was fired from Bear Stearns in the mid-1990s due to his cocaine addiction.[12][9]
He was a member of theboard of directors ofEmpower America, asupply-side economics organization founded in 1993 and merged in 2004 with theCitizens for a Sound Economy to formFreedomWorks. Kudlow was also a founding member of the board of advisors for theIndependent Institute and consulting chief economist for American Skandia Life Assurance, Inc., inConnecticut, a subsidiary ofinsurance companyPrudential Financial.
Kudlow became economics editor atNational Review Online (NRO) in May 2001.
Kudlow served as one in a rotating set of hosts on the CNBC showAmerica Now, which began airing in November 2001. In May 2002, the show was renamedKudlow & Cramer, and Kudlow andJim Cramer became the permanent hosts. In January 2005, Cramer left to host his own show,Mad Money, and the program's name was changed the next month toKudlow & Company. The program went on hiatus in October 2008, returned in January 2009 asThe Kudlow Report, and ended its run on CNBC in March 2014.
Kudlow is also a regular guest onSquawk Box. He has contributed to CNBC.com onMSN. Starting in 2004, he also appeared onTheJohn Batchelor Show as a co-host on Tuesdays and as a substitute, until he left to become an economics advisor to President Trump. In March 2006, Kudlow started to host atalk radio show on politics and economics onWABC asThe Larry Kudlow Show aired on Saturday mornings from 10 am to 1 pmET and via nationwide syndication in the US starting June 5, 2010.
Kudlow's name was floated by Republicans as a potential Senate candidate in eitherConnecticut orNew York in2016.[13] In October 2015, U.S. SenatorRichard Blumenthal, in an email to supporters, attacked Kudlow despite Kudlow not being a candidate.[14] In early December 2015, Jack Fowler ofNational Review created a527 organization that encouraged Kudlow to run.[15]
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In March 2018, Donald Trump appointed Kudlow to be director of theNational Economic Council (NEC), succeedingGary Cohn.[2] He assumed office on April 2, 2018.[16] Kudlow's role as director of the NEC was to advise the president on economic matters, devise domestic and international economic policy, ensure policy consistency with the president's goals, and oversee implementation.[17]
During his tenure at the NEC, Kudlow sought to promote theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and advance a de-regulatory agenda. Kudlow believed the tax bill would eventually pay for itself, a stance which put him at odds with theCongressional Budget Office, which projected that the act would increase the deficit.[18] Kudlow evinced optimism about U.S. economic prospects.[19] As a proponent ofsupply-side economics, which emphasizes tax cuts and deregulation to spur economic growth, he was sometimes at odds with Trump's more protectionist stance on trade.[20] Kudlow defended the use of tariffs as a negotiating tool against China.[21][22] He was a member of the White House's coronavirus task force.[23]
After the 2018 G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Canada, he criticized Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau in a candid interview withCNN'sJake Tapper, saying that Trudeau had "stabbed us in the back".[24]
Kudlow's tenure at the NEC concluded with the end of the first Trump administration in January 2021.
In February 2021, Kudlow joined the Fox Business Network as a host, following his tenure as director of the National Economic Council under President Donald Trump. Kudlow, known for his economic commentary, was given the platform to host a weekday show titled "Kudlow," which premiered in early 2021. His program is broadcast at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern Time, providing viewers with economic insights, market analysis, and discussions on fiscal policy with various experts and politicians.[25][26] His show focuses on economic issues from a generally conservative viewpoint, but he also engages in broader economic discussions.[27]
He declined an offer to serve inDonald Trump's second administration, opting instead to continue his work at Fox Business.[28]
A self-described "Reagansupply-sider", Kudlow is known for his support for tax cuts and deregulation.[29] He argues that reducing tax rates will encourage economic growth and ultimatelyincrease tax revenue and, while acknowledging the limits of growth, that economic growth will clear deficits.[30] According toThe Economist, Kudlow is "the quintessential member of the Republican Party's business wing."[29]
In 1993, Kudlow said thatBill Clinton's tax increases would dampen economic growth.[29]
Kudlow was a strong advocate ofGeorge W. Bush's substantial tax cuts, and argued that the tax cuts would lead to an economic boom of equal magnitude.[30] After the implementation of the Bush tax cuts, Kudlow said year after year that the economy was in the middle of a "Bush boom", and chastised other commentators for failing to realize it.[30]
In their 2015 bookSuperforecasting, University of Pennsylvania political scientistPhilip E. Tetlock andDan Gardner refer to Kudlow as a "consistently wrong" pundit, and use Kudlow's long record of failed predictions to clarify common mistakes that poor forecasters make.[30][31]
Kudlow is not known as adeficit hawk.[29]
Kudlow has been married three times:[5] In 1974, he married Nancy Ellen Gerstein, an editor inThe New Yorker magazine's fiction department, with the marriage lasting about a year. In 1981, he married Susan (Cullman) Sicher, whose grandfather was businessmanJoseph Cullman and whose great-grandfather was businessmanLyman G. Bloomingdale.[32] The Washington wedding was presided over by U.S. District JudgeJohn Sirica. In 1986, he married Judith "Judy" Pond, a painter and Montana native.[33]
In the mid-1990s, Kudlow left Bear Stearns and entered a12-step program in order to deal with his addictions tococaine and alcohol. He subsequently converted toCatholicism under the guidance ofFather C. John McCloskey III.[5]
Kudlow is a member of the Catholic Advisory Board of theAve Maria Mutual Funds.[34][35] He served as a member of theFordham University Board of Trustees and is on the advisory committee of the Kemp Institute at thePepperdine University School of Public Policy.[36]
On June 11, 2018, Kudlow suffered a mild heart attack.[37] He was admitted toWalter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.,[38] and discharged two days later.[39][40]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Director of theNational Economic Council 2018–2021 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
