Veteran financial guru Larry Kudlow, who served as the Donald Trump campaign's senior economic adviser, urges that the same bi-partianship displayed by John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan displayed is exactly the role model President-elect Donald Trump must embrace to truly make America great again.
“Blame John F. Kennedy,” said Kudlow, who worked as Reagan’s budget deputy between 1981 and 1985.
In the early years of his tenure, Kennedy’s advisers had urged him to increase government spending, specifically on infrastructure spending. “Maybe you’ve heard that before. They tried that and it didn’t work,” Kudlow said at a recent Palm Beach book store, the Palm Beach Daily News reported.
Kennedy reached across party lines and asked for advice from the Republicans in his cabinet, who urged him to cut taxes.
“Lower taxes drives economic growth through incentives,” said Kudlow, a Newsmax Finance Insider, radio talk-show host and CNBC senior contributor.
“Those incentives grow the economy and that growth brings in revenues from higher income,” said Kudlow — host of "The Larry Kudlow Show" and author of "JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity," written with Brian Domitrovic and published by Portfolio.
The tax cut worked, even though it was implemented after Kennedy was killed in 1963, the Daily News reported.
“His party was against it. Republicans were against it,” Kudlow said. “It produced 5 percent economic growth,” said Kudlow, who under President Ronald Reagan was the associate director for economics and planning, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President, where he was engaged in the development of the administration’s economic and budget policy.
Kudlow noted that Reagan once praised JFK’s strategy.
Kudlow read this passage from the book, citing a speech Reagan gave while campaigning: “Can you cut taxes and fight inflation at the same time? I very much believe you can. JFK said that in 1962.”
“Reagan gave him credit. … You tell me a politician who gives credit publicly in a major speech to another politician,” Kudlow said as the crowd laughed. “Just as JFK reached across the aisle, so did Reagan,” Kudlow explained.
Kudlow has criticized the lack of civility in this presidential campaign.
“I want it bipartisan, that’s the way you get things done,” he said. “If I disagree with you, why can’t we have a civil, respected conversation? I don’t call you names. I don’t insult you. Kennedy had civility. Reagan had civility. … We need that. We need that in probably all parts of our life.”
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
Larry Kudlow is a senior contributor at CNBC. His new book is “JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity,” written with Brian Domitrovic.
To find out more about Larry Kudlow and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com
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