People Won’t Let Larry Kudlow Forget He Insisted Coronavirus Will Have “Minimal Impact” on Economy

The coronavirus outbreak is officially a global pandemic, and policy experts around the world are expressing significant concern over how the virus, which has claimed 4,729 lives worldwide according to the most recent official count, will impact global economies.

White House Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow’s old statements have come back to haunt him in the wake of a recent coronavirus briefing where he appeared to be rather ill.

Kudlow told reporters who attended the briefing that President Donald Trump’s proposed payroll tax cuts will lead to a “big growth payoff” that will help Americans “deal with whatever challenges occur.”

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In January, Kudlow insisted coronavirus will have a “minimal impact,” telling Fox Business that the problem as it stands is not an American one.

“This is a Chinese pandemic,” Kudlow told host David Asman at the time, noting that China “has a serious, serious public health problem” and that the United States wants to “help them work through it.”

“We are going to do everything we can as Americans and American governments, certainly, to help them solve this as rapidly as possible,” Kudlow said, adding that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is deploying resources to help China control the pandemic.

“We’re happy to do it,” Kudlow said. “It’s part of our engagement with China. We want to help out in any way we can. We have a lot of smart people that know how to deal with these public health issues, so we are going to send over a batch of CDC experts.”

Kudlow also recently claimed that the U.S. had successfully contained the coronavirus, and critics are making sure to remind others of his blunders. Fears of an economic crisis continue to mount, with the Dow tumbling more than 1,000 points after President Donald Trump announced that all travel from Europe to the U.S., with the exception of the United Kingdom, is banned for 30 days.

The president’s proposed payroll tax cuts are reportedly worth $40 billion per month and would provide temporary relief past the November elections. Neither Republicans or Democrats appear to be sold on the idea, expressing doubts that stimulus spending or tax cuts would help the economy in general.

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.