Kudlow Teases ‘Helicopter Money’, But The Market Is Not Impressed

As the administration scrambles to soothe the market during yet another day of trading-halt chaos, Larry Kudlow just tried to jawbone the market higher by raising the prospect of helicopter money.

Of course, the market wasn’t exactly impressed.

Apparently, investors are tired of talk from the administration, and are now waiting until Trump’s economic team starts shot-putting rescue packages filled with prepaid Visa credit-cards.

Essentially, the market’s attitude can be summed up in four words: “fuck you, show me”.

During a presser packed with soundbites, Kudlow said that the administration might offer “100% expensing” for any companies who move production back to the US because of the virus. The G-7 leaders who joined a call earlier in the day committed to doing ‘whatever it takes’ to save the global economy.

Though he acknowledged that the second quarter will be “very difficult”, Kudlow declined to call this a recession.

Because of these economic difficulties, the administration is considering sending cash directly to households to provide some “short-term relief”.

Bottom line: This is a short-term problem, a matter of weeks, not a matter of years.

Kudlow says the #CoronavirusOutbreak is a short term economic problem, a matter of weeks or months not years. He says the fundamentals of the economy are strong. pic.twitter.com/1V1Aod0HFT

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) March 16, 2020

The underlying fundamentals of the economy remain strong.

In related news, a group of moderate conservative senators led by Mitt Romney are apparently rallying around a plan introduced via an opinion piece in the WSJ calling for the government to give $1,000 to every American adult to combat the economic fallout associated with the outbreak, per Axios.

Are Democrats just going to sit back and let Romney take the credit for doling out $1,000 to every American after Andrew Yang brought direct cash interventions into the mainstream political discourse.

Shortly after Kudlow’s comments hit the wires and failed to revive the market, the administration lobbed another ‘tape bomb’ with an anonymously sourced insider report claiming the administration is “drafting” a hefty aid package for the airline industry.