There are some "glimmers of hope and growth" with the nation's economy as states reopen from their coronavirus closings, but numbers are still going to be "very poor" for the nation's second quarter, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Friday.
"We're still in the pandemic contraction," Kudlow said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
We probably haven't peaked in unemployment, and the numbers coming in the weeks ahead are going to be very poor here in the second quarter. It's a lot of hardship, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of anxiety, so it certainly isn't over."
But, he added, "the virus is flattening and coming downward," said Kudlow. "Openings are coming across the country, businesses are opening, new business applications are opening. IT's kind of a list of, I call them, glimmers of hope and growth."
The unemployment claims are a "terrible number" said Kudlow, but it is "slowing in its increase," meaning there are hopeful signs.
"I think we're going to move strongly into the second half of the year with perhaps as much as 20% economic growth," said Kudlow.
Business and government leaders are meeting at the White House Friday for a roundtable to discuss the next steps on economic policy, Kudlow said.
"We've gone through the liquidity phase and now we're in the reopening phase," he said. "I think the next phase has to go back to old-fashioned Trumponomics, cutting taxes, deregulating, things that grew the economy rapidly in the first three years plus and things that can grow the economy rapidly in the second half and on to next year. The president rebuilt the economy and he can do it a second time."
Meanwhile, there may be technical changes and congressional legislation to extend the life of Paycheck Protection Program loans, which is another hopeful sign, said Kudlow.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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