one of the most refreshing and terrific things that happened today was all the apparel companies were up. you know i like pvh, i like vf corp. what does this say? it says that they did not -- the retailers did not borrow from april and may which is what a lot of people were saying and they wanted to sell the retailers. also, what did i tell you about bed, bath, and beyond? it is not an amazon showroom the way so many had said and that's why it was one of the great short squeezes ever. stick with me when it comes to bbby. there's always a bull market somewhere, i'm jim cramer, see ya monday! hey, larry, what are you looking at to end the short week? >> all right, jimmy, the president still bullying the supreme court and adding to his nixonian enemies list. this is the "kudlow report." our sizzle story tonight, the president can help, but once again, bully his way into federal courtrooms? he had his attorney general eric holder craft a non-denial denial

at the request of the fifth circuit this to defend this week's presidential bullying of the supremes on the overturning of obama care. did the president mistakenly call unprecedented. i read the three-page later and i think it basically says to the court, simmer down. and i totally agree with senator mitch mcconnell who in a dramatic speech today warned obama to back off the supreme court and let the court do its work. the president ending his worst week in a long while, a gloomy, negative bullying attack on the court, paul ryan's budget, blaming mitt romney for oil prices, and aiming for the rest of his enemies list. he looks just like richard nixon on this. the president did a lot to harm himself and we're going to show you how. and i reveal, finally, the last of our ten commandments, thou shalt cut spending. amount to a tax cut to grow the economy. he will explain why. we'll take a look at the

markets, the dow and the s&p closed down, nasdaq closed up. and we begin with attorney general holder's reply to the appeals court in texas. part of the debate about the supreme court and the health care law, one judge on that court asked the justice department to refute the president. well, nbc's pete williams joins us now with details. good evening, pete. >> well, larry, this was all a very odd thing, unusual request. what amounted to a homework assignment from a federal judge in texas on this topic, the power of federal courts to strike down acts of congress. and today the justice department turned in its assignment on time. >> reporter: the political controversy spilled into a texas federal court where the rules are designed to filter out politics, interrupting arguments about a challenge to part of the obama health care law. jerry smith, an appeals court judge put a justice department lawyer on the spot about a comment earlier this week from president obama. >> i'm referring to statements

by the president in the past few days to the effect -- and i'm sure you've heard about them that it is somehow inappropriate for what he turned unelected judges to strike acts of congress. >> on monday, asked about predictions that the supreme court might strike down the health care law, the president used terms normally invoked by conservatives to attack decisions they don't like. >> in four years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint. that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. well, a good example. >> reporter: he said it would be unprecedented to overturn a law passed by a majority in congress. judge smith, a reagan appointee demanded a three-page single-spaced letter from the government stating its position on the power of courts to strike

down laws. republicans in congress pounced too. the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell circulated a list of 169 times the supreme court has struck down federal laws in part or completely. >> so i was respectfully suggest the president needs to back off. >> reporter: the president did dial back his remarks on tuesday saying simply the courts have shown restraint in overruling acts of congress. in the government's letter submitted in court today, attorney general eric holder says the government has not changed its long standing views that the courts have the power to overturn laws. but holder notes that acts of congress are presumed to be constitutional. and he says those challenging federal laws have the legal burden to show they're unconstitutional. the attorney general concludes his letter by saying that the president's remarks this week were "fully consistent with the principles that the government described in its letter to the texas court, larry." >> all right. many thanks. appreciate the update. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell did slam president

obama today for his comments about the supreme court. let's listen. >> i would respectfully suggest the president needs to back off. back off. let the court do its work, let our system work the way it was intended to work. the stability of our system and our laws and our government depends on it, and the duties of the presidency demand it. >> here now is virginia attorney general, virginia one of the original of the 26 states to challenge the constitution of obama care. thank you for helping us on this. i'm no lawyer, that's for sure, but i did read holder's letter to the fifth -- i did read holder's letter and i sort of thought, you know what, it's sort of a non-denial denial defending the bullying of the suprem supremes. it said yes, the federal courts, no question have the legal right to review congressional legislation, but then it comes around later and said but we want you to act with great restraint. and basically says don't, don't

repeal obama care. i mean, this is -- this is a non-denial denial. >> yeah, this is a letter written in a case in the fifth circuit signed by the attorney general, eric holder. but it's clearly three numbered sections to it. and the third section is exactly as you describe. it wasn't written for the fifth circuit. it was written to the supreme court because this is in the news and they expected the supreme court presumably to read it. and you'll note they cited two judges in particular who have ruled in favor of the government up to this point the two republican appointees have come down on their side. i love how these breakouts of judges by appointee are political when republican appointees vote for unconstitutionality. i never hear any mention of how it's political when those thought to be more liberal judges, democrat appointees vote to uphold the mandate. and this letter is clearly

another shot at the supreme court. and what the president did the other day was an attempt at intimidation. let's call it what it is. we all -- there isn't an american alive who doesn't have some supreme court case they don't have a complaint about. we can talk about those on the merits and on the substance of them. but president obama is exactly that. he's the president. >> well -- >> and right now, there's a case pending and he is trying to beat up and intimidate the supreme court to rule his way or -- or i would say at the same time delegitimatize the institution itself. this is on entire -- >> hang on a second, before we go there. i just want to look at this holder letter. this is so important. >> okay. >> all right. again, i'm not a lawyer. it said to the federal court system. you should make the review, but then he says, you should make reviews only in appropriate cases. then he says in this letter, congress has the presumptively

constitutional -- presumptively, congress laws are presumptively constitutional. the courts should respect congress's legal judgment and the courts should therefore exercise restraint in making these decisions. in other words, he's saying, yeah, okay, you can review it, but congress is usually right and we don't want you to overturn this. that's the way i read this and i thought it was quite extraordinary and i'm surprised as of this discussion we're having tonight more people haven't really gotten into this. this is a non-denial denial. this doesn't -- this is not an apolo apology, this is an attack on the supremes. >> that's right. and it's actually sort of a cleaned up reiteration of it. what you cite, you've got the president and now his attorney general saying you all should exercise and restrain and don't overturn our law. they fully recognize that one of the roles of the supreme court is to defend the constitution. and let's understand what's happening in this health care case.

the states who brought these lawsuits and others are defending the u.s. constitution from the federal government. that's what we're doing. and you're continuing to see that same federal government led by this president attack the court itself. and look at the very last line of the letter. i'm going to read it because i've got it here. the president's remarks were fully consistent with the principles described herein. that is there's a denial of reality right there, larry. that is a denial of reality. that is not what the president said. it was a clear attack. and it's totally inconsistent with the law that the attorney general cites. >> but this -- >> very defensively. >> it's all high-handed stuff. and the idea -- >> it is very high-handed. >> and the idea that if you overturn obama care it would be unprecedented. this is high-handed. in other words, a lot of people expected this letter to sort of apologize for obama having gone

so far out on a limb that even liberal jurists from harvard said the president was wrong. but no, this is a defense of the president's attack on the supreme court. and i'm astonished by this and i don't think -- >> an extension of it. it's an extension of it. it's more than a defense, it's an extension of the attack. it's a cleaned up version of it. they should have left out, frankly, particularly -- you can defend the notion that congress gets deference in the application of the constitution or the decision whether the constitution is violated by law. okay. but they pushed it way beyond that, and the citations in particular to the republican appointed judges to me gives me a window on the motives of that part of this letter. this is an extension of the president's attack. they're not letting this go. they're extending it. >> right. all right. we'll leave it there. virginia attorney general. we appreciate your input. >> good to be with you. all right. turning now, we're going to

switch gears. the extraordinary bipartisan signing of today's jobs bill. it's a bipartisan bill among other things that makes it easier for small business to access capital. president obama signed it into law in the rose garden with house majority leader eric cantor on hand. cantor said it was a pleasure to be there. >> throughout my district in richmond, virginia, and throughout the country, it is too hard right now for small businesses to get up off the ground and grow. this bill responds to that difficulty and says we are committed in america, we're open for business. >> all right. mr. cantor's also calling for more. he wants a small business tax cut, he's going to introduce that after tax day. thad be 20% reduction. now, also on hand at the white house and joining me now is steve case, member of president obama's council on jobs competitiveness. mr. case is the revolution ceo. remember, he was a co-founder and former ceo and chairman of america online. business start-ups, brand new business start-ups were one of

the huge drivers of the boom of the economy in the '90s, including a jobs bill. do you think this jobs act signed today will get those start-ups going again? because we haven't seen it in over a decade. >> i think it's definitely going to help. and even broaden it. i think this country was built by entrepreneurs and industries. it really is important. and the kauffman foundation data really demonstrates this. over the last three decades, 40 million jobs have been created by high-growth entrepreneurial companies and accounts for all the net job creation and yet start-ups are down, as you mentioned, 23% over the last five years. this jobs act providing access to capital whether it be an early stage or crowd funding or later stage, things like an ipo onramp will be helpful. there are other things we need to do. the jobs council made a series of recommendations. the issue of high school immigration, still needs attention. it's a great day for entrepreneurs and bipartisanship. it's great to see people coming together, republicans and

democrats to work together to get something done. >> instead of killing each other. a couple things jumped out at me. crowd funding. crowd funding over the internet to make it easier to raise smaller capital. and a little bit of relief from sarbanes-oxley. >> yeah, crowd funding basically allows you to use these internet platforms. if you want to do a documentary, you can use these crowd funding sites. but until this was passed and signed by the president today, it was illegal to raise money for the company. if you wanted to sell your company, you could go to a site like ebay and sell 100% of your company, but you couldn't sell 1% of your company, but now you can. it's important for companies that don't have easy access to the traditional sources of capital, venture capitalists or bank lending. this thing is going to be very important for companies all around the country. and also, the issue of ipos. sarbanes-oxley may make sense for some of these larger companies, but having the same

rules for these little companies just didn't make sense. now there's an onramp that allows companies that are under $1 billion of revenue, under $700 million in market valuation and only for a period of up to five years to essentially slide into that process of being fully comply it with sarbanes-oxley. there's still a lot of disclosure requirements and people investing in these companies still have sufficient investor protection. that was the key balance. how do you provide capital to entrepreneurs so they can grow faster, create jobs, innovate faster while protecting investors whether it be with crowd funding or the ipo onramp. >> i like it. it makes a lot of sense. and i hope we get those business start-ups. steve case, thank you very much. great to see you again. coming up on "kudlow," more positive data today on chain store sales. but markets still fear the end of fed stimulus. and i do think the markets are wrong. to me, less fed, king dollar becomes a tax cut that can lift all stocks.

i want the dollar up, i want the markets up, and we'll do that stock market work later on. don't forget, folks, free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. that includes, incidentally, the rule of law. i'm kudlow. we'll be right back. zap technology. arrival. with hertz gold plus rewards, you skip the counters, the lines, and the paperwork. zap. it's our fastest and easiest way to get you into your car. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz.

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let's turn to stocks. this week's market is off more than a percent. i say let the correction shake out. the fed's move could be very bullish for stocks in the economy. let's now turn to our investment panel. chief market strategist from lpl financial and cnbc's own kelly evans. . i've been saying this all week, less fed, a stronger dollar, and a stronger dollar will depress commodities, including and most particularly energy, oil, and retail gasoline, which is a tax cut for the economy. what's your take? not everybody agrees with me. >> well, eventually we have to break this cycle of the fed constantly coming in to support the markets, right? we had qe-1, it ended, stocks fell 6%. then we had qe-3, the market's seen this movie twice before and knows how it ends, it's bracing for this, but ultimately, we

have to break this cycle. interestingly, though, the dollar has held up pretty well through operation twist. it's up a little bit maybe because the size of the program wasn't as big as the others. but i think ultimately we have to come to an end of this. if we can get through with a modest pullback, this end of fed policy, this end of fed stimulus will be the stronger for it. >> kelly, the reality is, qe-2 which ended last year mid year was the end of real fed money pumping. operation twist didn't create another single new dollar. and therefore, i just wonder where the markets -- you had this story this morning in the journal. markets fear the end of the stimulus. kelly evans, i think that's just overbaked. i think the whole thing's overbaked. >> larry, look -- >> terrific for stocks. >> i think everyone hopes you're right and would want to agree with you on that that the federal reserve could kind of back away and the dollar strengthens and the u.s. economy is fine on its own. but the problem is we haven't had an instance that will be the case going forward. if the fed's backing away and people are increasingly looking

toward the end of the year with the fiscal cliff looming, we're reminded by the drown grade that eagan jones did of the u.s. debt rating, which is going to push this issue back into the spotlight. the concern is just that we won't be able to. you're already seeing this come back a little bit. we're back into this risk on/risk off trade. >> kelly, i totally agree that this tax hike cliff is a disaster. that i totally agree with. but i'm just very skeptical. to me, the last few years, profits have driven stocks, not the fed. but i know everybody disagrees with that. >> no, larry, but profits have been an important source of this rally. the problem, though, is that's starting to come to an end. that's the problem here. the fed is backing from the market at a time when that profit cycle is peaking. looks like this earnings season could bring an end to the nine-quarter winning streak we've had. the question becomes how much more can the market stand on its own especially when these dynamics work -- >> jeff, i think domestic profits might do a little better because the domestic economy's

doing better. we saw again today, lower jobless claims, chain store sales and retailing beat estimates once again. most people, i think, maybe you disagree, jeff, 200, 210,000 non-farm payrolls, that would be the fourth straight month. how bad can earnings be if the economy is holding up? i'm not saying it's fabulous, but holding up pretty well. >> reasonably well, but still, earnings are likely to be just mid-single digit growth rates. one of the risks is if you look out later this year, expectations are still very high. fourth quarter earnings expected to be up in the mid teens. that doesn't seem likely in this kind of environment. not saying losses are likely, but maybe more 7%, 8% earnings growth rates, i'm afraid we're going to see downward revisions to the earnings estimates this year and that may further exacerbate any other economic concerns and may prompt the fed to take more action. >> jeff is right and larry -- i want to mention -- >> you think the fed would take action -- let me get this right. this is wild stuff, you guys.

you're telling me if profits come in 5% or 6% and the stock market has, i don't know, a 5% correction, even a 10%, you think the fed is going to target and they're going to launch qe-3 for better profits and better stocks? >> i do -- >> i don't believe that for a nanosecond. >> no, but for better jobs, for better jobs, i think they're worried about that cycles into a downturn in job growth rates. because already we've noted in the minutes that they have concerns about the durability of the growth rates in jobs. i think a falling stock market and worries about corporate profits and the sustainability of those job numbers might prompt them to take that action. >> kelly evans, we ought to cut government spending, deregulate a little bit and lower marginal tax rates. >> we're going to cut government spending, but i'm not sure they're appropriate right now. that's going to be the concern weighing on people's minds going forward. when we look at more talk about raising the debt ceiling, we're responding to the downgrades. it's all going to happen again, larry. >> you're talking yourselves into a downward spiral. holy cow, we need more work

tonight. you're both great. great to see you. now, my old pal jim cramer spent time thinking about european markets and policy. he thinks the policy makers have it all wrong over there. take it away, jimmy. >> hey, larry, what makes it so hard when you take your cue from europe as we do every single morning when we come in, those stock markets go into this week reflecting what should be tremendous growth, not contraction in the economies. the italian stock market was up low single digits going into this week. france had rallied to the middle single digits, germany was up, still up double digits. worst of all, spain, which is verging on a depression was only down mid-single digits. these markets will go dramatically lower over time, why? because of the deteriorating european economy. they are all sells if you ask me. if you want to ask me if the european policy makers would gauge their priority.

promoting austerity. two, fighting pollution and global warming, hence the surreal discussion over the carbon tax. three, encouraging higher taxes on the countries. four, stopping inflation before it takes hold, and fifth, maybe promoting growth. i wish i were joking. you scrap the carbon tax discussion, and you focus on growth to show you mean business. and the policy makers may have something to show for themselves now that things have gotten really sticky for spain again. don't forget that without the massive fire wall the shorts are forever going to be paying the 5% for the right to destroy the spanish treasury. right now we are going to have to endure the headlines, accept the risk that the traders will shorten the linkage on us. we know that europe's not the flash point it was. and pick, we have to start picking as they knock down high-quality stocks like the microsofts and the intels right along with the regional banks and retail regardless if it makes any sense at all versus europe, by the way, doesn't.

growth, pro growth policies, forgetting austerity right. that's what turns around europe and makes you want to buy, not sell their markets as well as ours. now, someone go tell the leaders over there, larry, that growth's more important than austerity or going green. i know they sure aren't listening to me. lawrence, back to you. >> jimmy, i couldn't agree with you more. go growth. let's get some labor market reform so it pays to work in europe. coming up on "kudlow," newscorp is under attack. the company sky news admitting today it has hacked e-mails and get this, the company claims the hacking was actually in the public's interest. all right. we'll try to figure it out up next on "kudlow." [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology

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shares of news corp. newscorp rebounded slightly after sky news admits its sky journalists hacked e-mails of suspected criminals on two occasions. the company also admitted to compromising national law around airport security and illegal

weapons, not once, but twice. sky news chief john raley said in a statement, we standby these actions as justified and in the public's interest. we do not take such decisions lightly or frequently they require balanced judgment based on individual circumstances. whoa, hacking in the public interest. that seems to be the key phrase. james murdoch is the heir apparent to the empire and b sky b chairman, but he has jumped ship. now they will see if he is fit and proper to hold a business license. joining us now murdoch veteran martin dunn. welcome back. can i just ask you -- maybe this is just your opinion. is hacking legal in britain? >> well, it's not legal, and there is no legal justification for breaking the law to get a story. and, of course, the real issue that sky news and newscorp faces. when you do this sort of thing,

are you actually doing it in the public interest? or are you doing it because the public is interested in it? and that's the big issue that they face. >> what does it mean in the public interest? in other words, they're saying it's okay for them to hack into e-mails, voice mails, whatever, in order to provide news information for the public? is that their argument? >> yeah, but generally you would say a story in the public interest is exposing some sort of great government malfeasance or wrong doing in the corridors of power. these were actually news stories about ordinary people that they're accused of hacking into e-mails and voice mails. and i think that the public interest justification is kind of hard to swallow in this particular case. >> so what's the -- all right. give me your assessment. how does this affect rupert murdoch's empire? sky news is an important part of the empire. what's going to happen? he's going to testify before parliament or some kind of committee? what happens next, martin? >> yeah, and this is -- this is

another sort of bit of a black eye for rupert. in less than two weeks, he appears under oath in front of a judicial inquiry in london. also the equivalent to coa congressional committee. there won't be a ticket in the place to listen to rupert as he talks about his corporate governance, influence with politicians, the way his company is run. and then following straight on after him, james will also be appearing under oath in front of a judge. and it's going to be an interesting time. and revelations like the ones that have come out today really don't help rupert as he tries to explain why he is a fit and proper manager. >> all right. we'll leave it there. we'll wait and see what happens and we'll have you back after these inquiries are completed. >> i look forward to it, larry. >> thanks to martin dunn. appreciate it. coming up, president obama's on an angry, negative bullying spree against the supreme court, business, paul ryan, and looks

like anybody else who gets in his way. how damaging is his nixon-esque enemies list? i wonder if i can make the enemies list? what a thrill. guys. come here, come here. [ telephone ringing ] i'm calling my old dealership. [ man ] may ford.

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welcome back to the "kudlow report." i'm larry kudlow. so this is a good list. you know you're having a bad week when you try to intimidate the supremes and the courts bully you right back. you slam the gop for having a trojan horse budget plan and they blast you for having no plan at all. >> i'd be willing to consider the president's plan. but he doesn't have one. that's right. 3 1/2 years later, he has failed to enact or even propose a serious plan to solve the entitlement crisis. >> all right. also when your bipartisan jobs bill enrages your own labor supporters and your own press secretary uses your all of the above energy plan as a punch line. president obama might need more than a long weekend to recover from all of this stuff. so i want to talk about this, kick it around. here's our cnbc contributors to our free market thursday. keith boykin, jim pethokoukis,

jennifer ruban of the washington post. j.p., let me start with you, i'm surprised that president obama had such a hostile bullying negative attack dog rant against paul ryan who is just the budget chairman. in other words, presidents don't really use budget chairman. they tend to their higher level. ryan's down here, obama's up there, why did obama go there? and didn't that just make the public scratch its head and say what's up with this guy? >> all right. he's punching down. you're not supposed to punch down. most of this country has no idea who paul ryan is. they don't know the path to prosperi prosperity. and spending an hour -- talking about social darwinism and trojan horses? what's all this about the budget? >> many days later, i still don't know. i asked ryan what social darwinism is. do you know what it is?

>> it was long ago. >> survival of the fittest translated into the economics sphere where basically it doesn't matter if the people who were in the bottom don't get anything. they don't get any jobs -- >> how many americans know what social darwinism is? >> i disagree with what james said about that speech because i don't think most americans know about the paul ryan budget. i don't think the administration did any favors by attacking him. they're trying to make thi a gingrich connection, but gingrich was a well-known figure. >> it takes a lot of moxie to do it when you have absolutely no plan. and you rip the guy who has -- maybe you disagree with it, maybe you think it cuts too much, but you have no plan. >> it's so fascinating to me. i think it's really hurting obama. he does have an enemies list. he's bashing the supreme court, bashing this person known as paul ryan and his prosperity budget. but he bashes oil, he bashes fat

cat bankers, bashes millionaires and billionaires. he blames mitt romney for higher oil prices because your friend -- in other words, he's going to get a reputation and an attitude of a guy who just goes out and slams people to get his own way, but we don't know what he stands for, we don't like it, and he's not doing any business in washington. that's what's interesting to me. >> right, i think it is surprising how negative it has been all week. going after the supreme court when they're considering a case in which you're heavily involved is usually a bad idea. >> aren't the supremes fairly popular? >> they tend to rank high in terms of respect for institutions, institutions they think are working. and i think people have a natural sense, they recoil when they see someone going out and accusing the supreme court -- which hasn't even ruled about some kind of misbehavior that the president anticipates. but i think the problem for obama, he ran in 2008 on hope and change, republicans mock that, that's wrong, people do want hope and change, but they want substance. now he's running on grim and

doom and gloom. and when you combine that with a lot of the actions of this executive branch, signing statements, czars, it really is the imperial presidency all over again. >> you're off message, and i think the negativism by itself, he is bullying left and right on a daily basis. that can't work. >> i don't think he's been that negative. i think he's responding to negative attacks from the republicans over the past few months. but i agree he's off message. that was really unnecessary. he should've saved that for later on in the campaign. but -- >> wait to slam the supreme court. >> at some point you're going to have to say it if they rule against him. i think the reality is the republicans have had such a negative campaign against obama, accused him of being a socialist, practically everything under the sun, and people can look at his record -- and the polls show -- the polls show that people like the president. >> the president basically called paul ryan a social

darwinism. that is one very small step from calling him a fascist. because that's what they called hitler. so to say -- >> excuse me? >> paul ryan never called the president a socialist, but didn't call him a social darwinist -- >> i don't even like this term. the fact is the ryan budget -- plan doesn't balance the budget until decades later -- >> 2019. >> 2019. >> that's -- >> it doesn't really -- >> that's why it wasn't worth attacking. >> and in order to do that, you have to slash programs that benefit the elderly, that benefit young people -- >> or testing -- >> or means testing medicare. that's what the president wants. >> i don't want to go too deep in the budget weeds because -- i think that so much of this bullying supremes and bullying the budget and all the rest of it is because the president does not want to run on his two main achievements, quote unquote. an $850 billion spending stimulus package which is very unpopular and obama care. which is very unpopular.

in fact, he'd rather bash the supreme court than even talk about obama care, which he doesn't want rewritten under a republican congress. in other words, he doesn't have anything positive to sell, so he's going negative on the rest of the world. and i think that's a losing proposition. >> i think it's also a mistake to talk about the subject on the topic. every time he says obama care, that's the bill that 72% of americans think is unconstitutional. so even bringing up the topic is a bad idea. but you're right, where is his full tax plan? where is his plan to reform medicare, medicaid and social security? that's what's so ironic about this. actually, mitt romney has these things -- >> he's going to run on the fact that we've had what? 24 months of consecutive job growth and private sector? he's going to run on -- he's going to run -- general motors is back after they were dead, left for dead, run on the fact he actually got osama bin laden. he's going to run on the fact he's the first president to get a health care plan after 70

years of people trying to do it. yes, some of these things aren't popular in terms of the health care plan, but the president is still very popular. >> the president is signaling -- >> the president is still leading. >> the approval rating -- >> his numbers have deteriorated over the course of the week. >> a month ago you said it was because of gas prices. >> mitt can do this. mitt romney from the private equity deal making world can say to americans, you know what? this guy can't make a deal to keep us out of bankruptcy, i can. i will apply my conservative fiscal principles and i'll make a deal because that's what i know how to do. and all this guy can do is rant and rave and bully and scream at you. i can get it done. i think that's a romney theme. i'll give you the last word. >> you know, when you go in and have a troubled company and rant and rave, you end up with a troubled company. you've got to go in there and fix it, do something. you can't just complain about it and bully. >> brilliant. nobel prize right there. you got the whole story right. keith boykin, having a tough

time tonight, but doing very well. james pethokoukis and jennifer rubin, thanks to the panel. the coal industry could suffer the same fate as osama bin laden. that according to the head of the united mine workers of america. he doesn't like obama either. those are strong words from a union boss and we will talk to him next up on "kudlow."

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on this presidential bullying theme, the powerful united mine workers union thinks the president is a bully. the epa's prose eproposed rules that work against coal-fire plants that has driven tough talk on the radio in coal country. take a listen. >> the navy s.e.a.l.s shot osama bin laden in pakistan, and lisa jackson shot us in washington. >> we welcome to the "kudlow report" mr. cecil roberts who was the president of the united mine workers of america. you're basically saying the coal industry could suffer the same fate as bin laden by which i i guess you mean the epa's going to put the coal industry out of business. is that fair? >> i think that's exactly what i've been saying. we've had three rules, two of which have been implemented.

all of which are very troubling for the coal industry. and where we found ourselves today, i doubt if it's possible to build another coal-fire facility in the united states. >> well, that's what some of the environmental people are saying that there'll never be another new coal-fired plant. isn't the united states the saudi arabia of coal? aren't we a gigantic coal power? >> we have more coal in the united states than any country on earth and absolutely we're the saudi arabia of coal here in the united states and instead of trying to do away with this energy source, we ought to be tapping into it. >> as i understand it from your radio appearance yesterday, you're very annoyed at the obama administration. okay, i get that. you're saying you won't endorse them, but you won't work against them. somebody's got to be held accountable. >> i think what's happened here, the coal miners and the umwa in particular, we've become politically expedient here.

and they can, i guess, don't consider themselves needing us. they don't plan on carrying the coal fields at all and it's my guess they need the environmentalists in all 50 states and we're suffering the consequences of this. >> i'm surprised you're not going to work harder to overthrow that. do you know they have an intermediate review for existing plants. you make one improvement in your existing plant and you've got to tell the line for all of these new regulations. that could put all existing plants out of business. >> look, what's been happening here if you've been paying particular attention to this, larry. over the course of the last few months, we've had utility after utility announce they're closing and shutting down existing coal-fire facilities and laying off workers at those facilities. that's a market for coal that's now gone. now what the epa is saying if you build a new coal-fire plant, you've got to place carbon capture technology on that new plant. and by the way, it doesn't exist. >> all right.

cecil roberts, thanks for coming on. i think it's a terrible, sad story and i hope you fight it. thanks for coming on the "kudlow report," sir. >> you can count on that. and thank you, larry. up next, my last commandment of growth thou shalt stop spending.

all week long, i've been unveiling my ten commandments of growth. tonight, i've got two more.

thousand shalt cut spending and seek economic freedom in everything. art laffer think spending cuts amount to a tax cut to grow the economy. and here to debate that jared bernstein's former chief economist for vice president joe biden and art laffer, and is now chairman of laffer investments. let me begin with you on the whole question of spending. here you have president obama bullying and bas and insulting paul ryan who wants to curb federal spending. really unseemly stuff by president obama this week, arthur. what is obama missing? why are spending cuts so important this warfare is developing? >> yeah. what obama is missing the government spending doesn't create jobs, it destroys jobs. you know, the tooth fairy doesn't work on the treasury staff, larry. you know, the government redistributes resources, they don't create them. and you can see this very clearly if you have a two-person

world. farmer "a" and farmer "b." if farmer "b" gets unemployment benefits, who do you think pays for them? milton friedman always told us government spending is taxation and when you cut government spending, you get a boom in the economy. when you increase it, the economy collapses. and it's what happened under w and obama. they were two peas in a pod. >> the president doesn't seem to understand that. his own budget got no votes in the house. and what i hear from him he would raise tax rates to spend even more, jared. >> the president hasn't been insulting paul ryan. he's been very harsh on the vision in the ryan budget, very much around this spending issue. it's one thing for you and art to talk about this spending thing as a global problem. but really when you get down to it, 2/3 of government spending is social security, health care, defense, and interest on the debt. now, if you're paul ryan, you let that other third go to zero. what is that, larry?

that's veterans, homeland security, investment in infrastructure, that's food stamps, the safety net, kids getting help with college. you know, i'm all for trying to find spending cuts. and the president, by the way, does find spending cuts in his budget. >> well, i don't know where. >> no, they're there. trillions. over $2 trillion in spending. >> that isn't true. >> it is. >> over ten years, that was in his budget and he raises taxes by $1.9 trillion. you see, art, what's missing here is ryan's trying to cut the increase in spending predominantly. yes, some programs should go, but mostly the increase. art, obama's spending 24% of gdp of the economy spending. you want to get it down to what? 18%, 19%, 20%? how would that affect the economy? >> yeah, and i would like to get it back, larry, to where it has been historically running along very well. i think that would boom the economy. when we had a huge spending cut after world war ii, 1944 to '46,

massive cut in government spending as a share of gdp. every economist, all the keynesian economists were wrong. john cochran in chicago shows larry kline's old paper in the aer, it's amazing how they were wrong. take a look at what clinton did. clinton shut government spending as a share of gdp. look at the boom under clinton. that's what we're talking about. >> jared, you made good press this week. you said at a conference that all the spending on green energy was worthless or didn't create -- >> no, no, no -- >> didn't create any jobs. that's what we're talking about. >> no, first of all -- >> you were right, jared, you got that completely right. this green energy spending doesn't work. >> i'm proud of you, jared. >> i think what you heard me say, sounded right to you. what i've written before is actually the production of clean energy is very capital intensive, it's not very much labor intensive, but there's a lot more jobs to clean energy

than that. now, look, you heard art talking about the 1940s, that's then, what we're looking at is over the next 25 years the share of elderly in this economy is going to grow by about 50%. that's baked in the cake. how you guys can tell me we can meet the retirement and health care needs of a much expanded demographic share like that on historical levels of spending 20%, 18 percent -- the other night you said 15%. >> no -- >> that's all right. >> i thought i said 15%. >> yeah, let me do it if i can. we're living longer, much healthier, the retirement age for social security should be extended way out and let us be productive without being on social security. i'm getting social security now. that's not correct, jared. >> that's trimming at the edges. there's just not -- >> no, it's not. >> there's no way to meet the demands of demographics of climate, of defense -- >> sure you are. >> on 15%, 16%, even 20%.

>> where i lived in cleveland, ohio, lake erie's cleaner than it's ever been. the air -- >> all i know -- >> thanks to your government. >> president obama would rather demagogue the issue, jared, i'm sorry to say that. he really took off after paul ryan unfairly -- >> let's talk about his budget. he does -- >> thank you very much, gentlemen. there you have it. that's it for tonight's show. we're off for good friday. we'll see you monday night. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands

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