and a new warning that concerns over the
delta variant could slow economic
recovery
here now art laffer former reagan
economic advisor and laffer associates
chairman arts good to see you
good to see you cheryl yes i want to ask
you about these comments from
minneapolis fed chair neil kashkari
he basically acknowledged that if we
head back towards
lockdowns there is going to be an
economic effect
that the virus and worries about it as
that's what happened today on wall
street is going to have an effect you
agree
totally it'll be a massive effect it
already has been cheryl when we locked
down in march or
was it april of 2020 the effect was
enormous
while they say we've caught back up the
pre pandemic levels
you know we've missed the whole year and
a half of economic growth
we're way below the trend line and our
growth rates are not going to be very
high going forward because of the
policies being put in
so i am terribly concerned about the
long-run prospects for the u.s
and another lockdown will just make it
worse you know even we saw that with the
first read on second quarter gdp
it came in at six and a half percent the
estimate was eight and a half percent
and when that number across the instant
reaction was wait a minute that was
q2 that was vaccine rollouts that was
reopening that was people that had been
locked in their homes or apartments for
over a year that want to spend
money and a lot of debate about why
that was why growth slowed what's your
answer
yeah the answer is it's not these people
want to spend
money i know everyone talks about demand
but the policies that were put into
effect
is people do not want to go back to work
number one the risks of the pandemic at
work in a group setting
but number two you get paid more if you
don't work so therefore all of these
incentives are sitting there
cheryl telling people not to go back to
work you remember
gross domestic product it's not gross
domestic demand
and gross domestic product is being
stifled all the way along here
and i don't see anything happening in
the future that would make it better i
mean
whenever you spend huge amounts of money
paying people not to work
i mean don't expect economic growth
because larry gatlin says cheryl
it ain't rocket surgery if you tax
people to work and pay people who don't
work
you're not going to get a lot of people
working and that's exactly where we are
they're trying to make it even worse
rocket surgery rocket science it's none
of that i completely agree no rocket
surgery
larry was right but actually you brought
up something i wanted to ask you about
it's this new report that just came out
um and it basically talks about it's
forewarning
basically that we're turning into a
welfare state the country is a welfare
country and that these exp these
unemployment benefits
this is the new welfare and that it
might be short-term right now
it's going to become long-term and it
says basically that
you can't give unlimited compensation to
people
um indefinitely they're going to stay
home
um and it's you know this is a it's a
government report house and ways
committee
you know looked at it as well i mean
this is something that
our elected leaders our officials are
seeing whether or not they act on that
is something entirely when you've got
some democrats that want to make
these extra benefits permanent
yeah well you know they're buying votes
that's what they're trying to do but
you ask yourself and i know you and i
are the exception
cheryl but how many of us would work if
we didn't get paid at all for the work
we do how much
would stay on the job and work not very
many people
so the more unattractive you make work
the more attractive you make non-work
don't be surprised people will choose
not to work do you realize that our
participation rate in the labor force
has been falling like a stone over the
last several years
we to just to get back up to the same
old trend line
we would have to add eight million new
jobs
just to get back up to the participation
rate we had at the beginning of the
pandemic
that's 8 million and we're far from that
and we're not even starting to catch up
so
i view these bills as just being a crazy
long-term
sluggish growth policy and you know
it'll have
huge implications for yours and my
grandchildren and great-grandchildren a
lot of policies
unfortunately you're right we'll become
a second world country maybe not a third
but a second world cup well
and i want to give credit where credit
is due this is a a government report
from the
foundation for government accountability
because we need accountability
government spending real quick though
before i let you go
i just want to ask you overall you know
we've got one more month of summer
and we have seen a lot of travel a lot
of spending a lot of economic activity
but are you worried that the delta
variant in particular and maybe this is
being
you know it's hyperbole as far as the
media goes maybe it's being overplayed
some say it is
um do do you worry that that's going to
dampen consumer sentiment or consumer
spending
let me just tell you that i'm 81 years
old cheryl and i worry about
all sorts of things including the delta
variant
i think the delta variant is very
serious and i really wish everyone would
be vaccinated
i got vaccinated right early i got
vaccinated in december
of last year so i mean i really got it
fast and i really needed or wanted it
i'm in a very high risk group
uh but frankly i i don't think we should
spend our whole lives worrying about
what's going to kill us because
at 81 something's going to get me some
sooner or later and uh i don't want to
worry about my rest of my life and not
do
things i like doing things it's the
doing of things that makes life
worthwhile
not the worrying about ending the life
that makes things worthwhile and frankly
i i just don't want to sit there and
worry until my last day i want to
do and get up and go now i'm careful i
i do take precautions i am vaccinated
totally
all of that but that doesn't mean i
don't take some risks at
living my life and i just think that's
so important to do
yeah now i'm vaccinated as well art uh
laffer it's always great to talk to you
i didn't know you were 81 you look you
look 41
but oh come on now i look 91.
okay sure
all right it's always great to talk to
you it's good thank you sir it's good to
see you nice to have you oh all 41 years
of you okay
well let's move on here to this this is
something else folks major u.s cities
facing another weekend plagued by
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