As much as inflation and a future recession are concerns for Americans, former Trump chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow says the dangers of an impending return to an Iran nuclear deal by the Biden administration is a bigger concern.
"The single worst story is the continued reports we are very close, the U.S., to a new nuclear deal with Iran: This is utter insanity; this is the worst thing that I've ever seen," Kudlow told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" WABC 770 AM-N.Y.
"Iran, which hates America, which hates Israel, our staunchest ally, which hates Saudi Arabia, which is an ally – and in this deal we're going to give a $10 billion carve out to Russia to build a nuclear facility of some kind in Iran."
All this comes as President Joe Biden attempts to sanction Russia out of its invasion of Ukraine, including a pseudo ban on Russian oil, but instead rewards it for profiting off nuclear energy for Iran, Kudlow lamented to host John Catsimatidis
"So, while we are sanctioning Russia over Ukraine, we're going to give them a $10 billion carve out so there's no sanctions for this Russian construction of an Iranian nuclear plant," Kudlow continued. "Whether it's for peaceful uses or nuclear uses — you can bet it's going be for a nuclear war uses because it's Iran and they lie — how in the world do you make a deal with America's biggest enemy, with Israel's biggest enemy, and give Russia $10 billion?"
Even worse, Kudlow argued, is Biden is going to remove the state sponsor of terrorism from Iran.
"We will, as part of this deal, declassify [Iran's] Revolutionary Guard," Kudlow added. "These are the thugs and killers that finance Hamas and Hezbollah
"They kill Israelis routinely, Iraqis, and so forth. We're going to take their terrorist classification away, so they're not going be terrorists anymore. So, give $10 billion to Russia, removing the terrorist classification of the revolutionary guard, and reward Iran: The worst foreign policy story I've ever heard."
The economic story in America is less awful, but still trending in the wrong direction, too, according to Kudlow.
"It was a very good week for stocks, but the Federal Reserve did nothing but rhetoric in its meeting on Wednesday, the so-called tightening — 1/4 of one percentage point," Kudlow said. "They're still buying bonds. They're still printing money. They're still reluctant to take aggressive actions like 50 basis points or 100 basis points.
"But the Fed raised rates by one quarter of 1%. Utterly futile."
Stagflation and a recession are on the horizon to varying degrees, Kudlow concluded.
"The Fed is not taking the punch bowl away," he said. "But inflation is roaring. Companies are still profitable, and the Fed is not taking away the punch bowl. That's going to be the story for a while.
"I think we're going to go into a stagflation period, and then we're going to go into recession. But the recession is not going to be this year."
"It's a weak fed. There is no Paul Volcker in sight, let's face it. But the actual inflation numbers, which are going to get worse rather than easier, will force them into a much more aggressive posture."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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