White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Wednesday told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he expects to see a “V-shaped recovery” for the United States economy as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Kudlow said it would be “a big mistake” to shut the country down a second time because it “would do more harm than good.”
“It really would be a big mistake to take a step like another shutdown, which itself, as you know, is controversial, that would do more harm than good. And it would harm pretty much everybody, not just business, it would harm business, OK, and the great V recovery might give way, but I think it would also harm kids. I think it would harm individuals who have to stay home, you know, we’ve seen the numbers on depression, addiction, drinking and so forth and so on. I just think that solution would be worse than the disease.”
“Virtually every piece of data shows a V-shaped recovery,” he added. “Now, I acknowledge the threat, OK, and we are scouring the numbers, and we are watching it very, very carefully to see, and you just can’t rule out anything, but at the moment, the best guess is we’re going to be OK. Maybe some places, you know — take Texas, for example, that’s an important state for business and GDP and so forth. On the other hand, New York and New Jersey, their case rate and fatality rates have come way down again, and so they are going to continue their reopening. So, it really kind of depends. It’s a big country. Most of it’s doing rather well. Some of it is in trouble here. I get that.”
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