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Kudlow: 'Let's Give Bernanke a Little Credit'
Larry Kudlow, the former Reagan advisor and now host of CNBC's "Kudlow & Company," figures Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has things just about right.
At least, much, much more right than the federal government's too-little, too-late tax rebate.
By Kudlow's calculations, "Gentle Ben" has saved top-tier taxpayers like him and his wife $2,000 a month - $24,000 a year, every year - simply by cutting interest rates to 2.25 percent, down 3 percent from autumn.
"I have really learned to like Ben Bernanke. He's the man. And his interest-rate cuts are vastly more effective than the so-called economic-stimulus rebate plan coming out of Congress and the White House," Kudlow wrote on RealClearPolitics.com.
The reason is that Kudlow and his spouse have an adjustable-rate mortgage. His original rate of 5.25 percent was on the way up in recent months, to a high as 8.25 percent.
Then the rate cuts set in.
"Guess what? Through February it has round-tripped all the way back to 6 percent," Kudlow wrote.
The Bernanke "rebate" is not just for the wealthy, Kudlow says. In fact, he calculates that median-price homeowners can now get into a $196,000 home with 10 percent down and, if they had chosen an adjustable-rate mortgage, would be saving $300 a month - $3,600 a year.
"That's a big rebate from the Fed. It's about three-times bigger than what Uncle Sam is promising," Kudlow wrote. |
