Kudlow: ‘Recession is so far in the distance I can’t see it’

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday dismissed talk of a potential recession on the horizon, saying he doesn’t see a slowdown happening anytime soon.

“The basic economy has reawakened and it’s gonna stay there,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House. “I mean, I’m reading some of the weirdest stuff, how a recession is around the corner — nonsense.”

{mosads}”My personal view, our administration’s view, recession is so far in the distance I can’t see it,” he added.

Kudlow’s remarks came a day after Goldman Sachs issued a report projecting that gross domestic product (GDP) will slow to 1.8 percent and 1.6 percent in the third and fourth quarters of 2019, respectively.

The bank’s chief economist, Jan Hatzius, wrote that “tighter financial conditions and a fading fiscal stimulus” from the 2017 tax-reform law and spending packages will be “key drivers of the deceleration.”

The Goldman Sachs forecast is similar to one from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in August that called for GDP growth to slow to 2.4 percent next year and 1.6 percent in 2020.

The economy expanded at a 4.2 percent rate in the second quarter of this year before slowing to a 3.5 percent rate from July to September.