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Follow up to last nite's Kudlow & Company

Well, that was amusing . . .

Considering I was in the Lion's Den, outnumbered 3 to 1, I thought I held up pretty well.

The funny thing was that while I was expecting Brian "Pouting Pundits of Pessimism" Wesbury to be the lead assassin, it was  Noah "Cult of the Bear" Blackstein who was the guy on the attack (the lesson in that is always guard your flank).

And as much as I'd like to trash Noah, the guy's up 25% for the past year, and in a flat market, that's impressive. Of course, if we have any kind of slow down, his performance will suffer much more than most -- but that's just the "Cult of the Bear" talking.

The real issue in discussing economics on TV is that you have somewhere between 50-100 words to answer a question that requires really 1,000 to discuss properly. I'd love to debate Brian Wesbury (who is a really nice guy) in the WSJ's Econoblog on the subject. Brian, are you game?

Some commenters yesterday asked why I even do the show; there are 3 reasons:

1) It's actually alot of fun -- Live TV is a high wire act, and since I don't ride motorcycles, it is the most dangerous and thrilling activity you can do without a helmet on. I get out of the office early, get whisked to the studios, bump into interesting people -- I got to tag Steve Liesman about an issue we discussed last week (NFR's +22% data point). Besides, you never know when you will humiliate yourself in front of a Nobel Prize winner.

2) I can't let the "other side" -- the perma bulls and supply siders -- have the air all too themselves! Besides, Kudlow's bombastic On Air persona is just that --  Larry is really a pussycat, and is one of the most gracious people you will ever meet in person.

3) Lastly, its good business; my partners love the exposure. Of course, they think its 5 minutes of easy work -- they don't see the hours and hours of prep work that goes into it . .  .

Thursday, December 08, 2005 | 06:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments

You did an awesome job in the face of overwhelming odds, Barry. You effectively counter-balance Larry's endless obsession with putting a positive spin on nearly all data or events without alienating him or those viewers who adhere to his dogma. I do not normally watch Kudlow because I know what most of his guests are going to say. When you are on the show I make a point of watching the segment. Also, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and insights on this blog.

Best wishes,

Bob

Posted by: Bob Forest | Dec 8, 2005 9:20:49 AM