don't even know about. you've got to stay with us for the entire hour. which begins right now. welcome to the final "kudlow report." i'm larry kudlow. first up, let's start with the news. another roller coaster day for stocks. jackie deangelis has that for us. good evening to you, jackie. >> good evening to you, larry. as you said, a roller coaster day tore stocks. ending in the green but off session highs. the early rally was fueled by comments from china's premier that the country's government would take steps to support its economy. but then a sell-off in the biotech sector. that was late in the day, weighing on the markets. now, at the close the dow was up 58 points. the s&p 500 was up 8. and the nasdaq managing to squeeze out a four-point gain. the nasdaq, though, was the big loser this week, off almost 3%, making it the composite's worst week since october of 2012. and biotech stocks, they were underperformers all week. a near 3% drop in the nasdaq biotech index today. a roughly 7% loss on the week. remember that monday's the last day of the quarter. so investors and funds no doubt positioning their books ahead of that calendar flip as well. lots of reallocation of capital including rotation out of some of the big momentum stocks. tesla striking a deal with new york governor andrew cuomo and the new york state automobile dealers association to keep existing retail locations open in the state. governor cuomo saying today that the agreement reaffirms new york's long-standing commitment to the dealer franchise system. tesla closing up nearly 2 1/2% today. and finally, larry, i just want to tyke a second to say it's been a pleasure reporting in to your show. thank you for having me on and always being such a gentleman. i look forward to hearing your insight earlier in the day on all our other shows. >> all right, jackie. you're the best. thank you very, very much. and thank you for helping so much. now let's bring in our ace investors. and there are some great old friends of the show. we're going to see them all during the show, old friends. first mike holland, chairman of holland and company. i don't want o'tell you how long i've known him. steve forbes, chairman and editor in chief of forbes media and cnbc's own chief international correspondent, michelle caruso-cabrera. steve forbes, i was voting for you in both of your presidential campaigns because of your great principles of free market capitalism. thank you for joining us today. >> i learned them from you, larry. >> no, no. you were way ahead of all of us. but i want to start with mcc, with michelle on this latest diplomatic discussion. what do you make of it? >> i'm not sure what to make of it. this is what we know. vladimir putin calls president obama, they have a discussion. president obama says let's put a solid diplomatic discussion offer on the table at the behest of vladimir putin. now, why on earth they want to do this now after he's already got 50,000 troops established on the ukrainian border according to the "wall street journal," there are supply lines set that up he's been trying to camouflage. we heard on sunday there were 20,000. now 50,000. so there's definitely been some kind of build-up. he faces no threat there, larry. ukrainians aren't going to invade. the army can't do it. and we're not going to lift a finger. and nobody else over there is. so why would you put all those troops on the border? he's clearly trying to show force. and i think if pressed or if not pressed at all he may take more of ukraine. >> is he, steve -- i don't understand putin. i don't understand any of this except the russian empire riff. i get that. but is he massing these troops on the border, as michelle described, in order to give himself some kind of leverage in diplomatic talks with the united states? because mcc is right. nobody's going to stop him from going in if he wants to go in. how do you read this? >> he may try to take a few districts in the eastern ukraine that he feels belongs to russia and that shouldn't have been part of ukraine anyway. and by massing troops that means what he's going to get from obama is obama's imprimatur on the takeover of crimea on the implied condition he's not going to grab anything else. but he's not going to stop there. moll doecha he may go after. and the bahtic states that's the big one. members of nato, lithuania, latvia, estonia. and if we don't do anything he may start to put pressure on them ostensibly to save the russian minorities. and if obama doesn't really exhibit some real backbone like either putting in troops or doing military maneuvers in the baltic states, this thing could spin in an ugly direction. that's the danger. >> i asked senator mcconnell. mitch mcconnell's coming on later in the show. i asked him, why doesn't the senate and the house right away in emergency session pass a bill that would allow us to export oil and particularly liquid natural gas? the bill's going back to the 18930s that prevent exports. i know it takes a while to put together although we do have some inventory, but i don't know@senate doesn't take immediate action. it may be symbolic, but symbolism is important here. >> yes. and approving facilities. we have about 25 applications for the liquid natural gas facilities. yes, approve those. yes, it will be several years, but what it tells europe is you can have some backbone because the cavalry's going to be coming over and it tells russia their days of having these natural resources as a dagger to europe, they're coming to an end. >> mike holland, sometimes it's easy for investors and broadcasters and news commentators to make too much of these things. i don't see the markets having a bad case of upset yet. i don't see it. we had a bad day or two. maybe we'll talk about the nasdaq selling off. but i don't think that's related to the ukraine. how do you play a situation like this as an investor? >> warily, larry, for all the reasons we've just heard. so far the markets vote every day, as warren buffett says. they voted that the russian market is down over 20% and we're essentially flat given all of the stuff that steve just described and michelle just described. i think if we get anything more, if steve's prognostications turn out to be somewhat correct and there's more stuff, we end up with -- forget about the military stuff. we get the sanctions and germany is forced to do something. that changes a lot of the thing -- your mother's milk which you talk about, which is companies' earnings. those will be dramatically affected if we move in that direction. right now the market is saying it's not going to happen. maybe they're giving putin some credit for things that maybe you and i wouldn't guess he's going to do, which is smart, and just do things without disturbing the markets. but he's got a very tough situation in his own economy. >> yes. >> i would think that any military -- any additional military action will have a shock effect on the markets. >> absolutely. >> just a shock effect. >> yes. because people will read what can we do. they're probably not going to do anything militarily. who knows? but certainly economic sanctions because everyone says see how it worked in iran. obama's backers are saying it worked there and we can do something again. >> michelle, let's go back to humdrum stock market stuff for just a moment as you cover the beat during the day. why did the nasdaq get creamed this week? >> that's a good question. there's a question about whether or not the air is coming out of the momentum stocks. we had one particular i'mo not do so well this week. the maker of candy crush. they had one game. a huge valuation. and the air came out of that. it performed really poorly. and there was some thought that maybe the momentum stocks, these are stocks that players play simply because they think they're going to go up because everybody else is going to buy them too. it's that simple. >> isn't it a dumb reason to buy a stock? >> people bought houses for that reason too. >> i remember that. >> so there's some talk about whether or not we're seeing some air come out of that. >> but steve forbes, okay, the momentum thing. i looked at the gdp revisions yesterday, and although it's belated profits came up 6%. profits are generally, i don't know, 5%, 6%, 7% rise. to me as the mother's milk of stocks that's a stabilizing influence on the stock market. >> yes. and we're not going to get much of a p/e boost that we've had in the last couple of years. but yes. the american economy is going to do better than a lot of people think this year once we get this crazy weather out of the way. the banks are starting to lend again after five years. small and medium size new businesses are starting to get access to credit again. you look at the c and i loans. they're really booming now. sought u.s. economy's going to be the engine of the world. not unlike a baseball player week, going to hit .260 or .270 up from about .150 when we should be hitting .350 but it's going fwoebt err why not that we've done in the last four or five years. >> how are you investing right now? what's your strategy? >> heavily in stocks. very little in fixed income. the only fixed income is special situation fixed income. i agree with steve that the economic backdrop for the u.s. relative to the rest of the world looks pretty good. and i don't agree with steve that we're done with the multiple revaluation. you and i spoke here a few years ago when multiples were lower. i thought we could get to here. i think we're probably going to do wa jeremy grantham has said. >> where are we, 15 1/2 times earnings? >> yeah. >> why is that so bad? >> it's not. >> 120 bucks for -- >> i think before this is over we're going to get overvalued, which could be 17, 18, 19 times. because things don't go -- they don't blow up. they don't go bump in the night. >> are you thinking about defense stocks at all in light of the situation? because we're in an era of retrenchment. dramatic retrenchment when it comes to our place in the world. >> it's a longer-term thing. we have two more years of not seeing a lot of mother's milk of profits coming through those companies but there will be movement in that direction. i think we will get lng kinds of things. a lot of things are going to be changing over the next couple of years that yes, the answer -- i think it's really an exciting time. but speaking of exciting times, i have to change the subject for one second. i'm sorry. i've known this guy for 35 years. every time he changes something, he's been here for 12 years doing stuff, it's really exciting. i am so excited for the next part of his life. >> yay. >> larry, you're the happy warrior for freedom. >> absolutely. >> all right. mike holland, thank you very much. michelle caruso-cabrera's going to rejoin us very soon. steve forbes is hanging out. he's going to talk to me about getting this economy to really run strong. i mean really run strong. all right. nine years in this program, how to get the economy going. i've never had this five or six or seven percent growth. one last time, i will say it, one last time this evening, the kudlow credo. free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. emphasis on freedom. i'm larry kudlow. we'll be right back. >> larry, i've got to thank you. i don't know if you realize this, but you and jim cramer were the first people to ever put me on cnbc, when i had no business ever going on television, which joe continues to believe is the case. >> thanks, larry. nice work. >> thanks, jim. anyway, we love your show, larry, for many, many years. and i am tremendously grateful for everything you've done for both me personally and for the network. >> let us just add, we are thrilled that this means we're going to get to see a lot more of you in the mornings because if you don't have to dot the evenings quite as frequently you're going to be here a lot more. so we're looking forward to seeing a lot more of you, larry, right here on "squawk box." >> and larry, you know we're soul mates. we never had to drink any of that kool-aid because it courses through our veins, the free market kool-aid. and we go back so far, all the way -- and i know you remember when penelope brought you on on "squawk box," you have many times said that restarted your career and was the beginning of the huge comeback which was just magnificent. and you're not going anywhere. so i don't know why the hell i'm even doing this. we'll see you on "squawk box" as a guest host. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 a month? 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[ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ welcome back. i'm larry kudlow. so how do we get this economy really growing again? who better to ask than steve forbes, chairman of forbes media, two-time republican candidate for president. i said earlier, i was on his team both times. steve, we had interesting, a couple days ago art laffer was on and we were talking about the economy vis-a-vis vladimir putin and so forth, and art strenuously argued that a strong economy at home gives us a strong national security posture abroad. but the problem is a weak economy at home weakens our national security. i think we all learned that from reagan. but it doesn't look like washington has learned that. >> no. and we should have learned it from the 1930s as well as the 1970s. and that's why we won the cold war. america was resurgent. russia didn't have -- or the soviet union didn't have the false prosperity from a weak dollar which boosted oil prices. so history is clear. that this president unfortunately is even more rigid than jimmy carter. he doesn't yet i think have learned the lesson that's if the u.s. is not strong the rest of the world goes down the drain, the bullies start to dominate various regions in a bad way. but the ingredients for a strong economy, you've been preaching this for years, a sound dollar so you can make investments for the future. simplified tax code. how about patients controlling health care? basic stuff like that. this economy will come roaring back. >> reagan never gave up the belief that lower marginal tax rates and generally free market policies would generate enough growth to throw off enough revenues to finance a military build-up that we desperately needed in the 1980s. okay? and yeah, we took some deficits in the early going. >> in the '80s national debt more than doubled, went up $1.7 trillion. mostly because of the defense build-up, which is a good investment because we won the cold war. but you know, the wealth of the nation, the net wealth of the nation went up $17 trillion. 10-1. that shows what a free economy can do. boost the asset side. >> you're absolutely right. so that point needs to be made again and again. you just went through a laundry list of things. tax reform, deregulation, a strong king dollar. i would add free trade to that. >> absolutely. >> i don't think we get back to a 4%, 5% growth path, which is what we're going to need to catch up, until we have major changes in washington. i've just written it off. with all due respect, i don't think president obama -- >> we're sort of in a '70s era today. we get these boosts from time to time. this year will be like the boost we had in '75, '76 during the '70s, but because they don't know what they're doing the patient's going to get sick again. so i hope after 2016 starting with 2014 elections but after 2016 we're going to get a mandate to do these substantive things and then we'll have several years of 5% to 6% real growth rates. >> now, we can outproduce russia completely. russia's a third world economy. if we do it right. i want to ask you about another american rival, that being china. it's a different story. china has an economy that russia never really developed. how do you see that as a chinese economy? world trade or is it a minus because they're rearming and they're building their military much faster than we are here. >> yes. well, this is where our own diplomacy and our own economic policy comes into play. they're still a very semi-statist economy. i think the leaders know we have to have reform. but again, if the united states becomes strong again, we can beat them in terms of innovation. they still haven't gotten that magic formula yet because it means a free market which they're not quite ready to do on the scale that we have here. and in terms of military build-up, if they want to build up their military, we can run circles around them. just as we did with the soviet union in the 1980s. and once we see that we are strong again, that they're not going to have a free ride in the pacific and make all these ridiculous claims, then i think they're going to focus more on having a strong economy, which means more of a middle class, which is a hope for the future. more democratic capitalism. >> okay. so our great energy revolution, we will be the independent energy player. we should be exporting liquid natural gas to europe. we should have been prepared for this, and we weren't. i want to ask you another one. symbolically, but then economically. why don't we just abolish, why don't we just get rid of our whole corporate tax in you and i want a flat tax on the personal side. yes, yes, yes. but meanwhile, why don't we just get rid of the corporate tax? studies show that wagers and consumers would benefit enormously, companies would stay here instead of going overseas, and i think businesses would take far greater risk. there's two things i want. i want congress to vote for the export of natural gas, and i want to abolish the corporate tax. >> abolishing the corporate tax politically is going to be tough to do. i think if you get the flat tax then you're going to end up abolishing the corporate tax and ultimately to get the income tax -- >> so you have to do them together. >> you have to do them together. but if you get the corporate rate, now 35%, 40%, down to 10% or 15% which you would see aw. a flat tax, you would see capital flooding into this country which would make other countries cut them more. you remember when reagan cut taxes here in a dramatic way, 50 countries did it. sweden, 100% tax rate. they're still slashing taxes. >> but we have to be the leader. >> we are the only game in town for freedom and civilization. that's the bottom line. >> well said. right there. only game in town for freedom and civilization. many thanks to steve forbes. >> thank you, larry. you deserve the thanks. >> thank you. you've been a great friend of mine. >> leading light. >> a champion for america as always. >> thank you. >> great to see you. >> senate republican leader mitch mcconnell is about to join us to talk about the outrageously weak poll numbers for obamacare as well as the problems with the enrollment numbers and much more. this is the final edition of "the kudlow report." please stay with us. we have so much more to do. >> larry, you're a legend. you're one of a kind. one of the all-time greats. we've gone up against each other many times, and i always enjoyed it, and i always learned something from you. and i hope wherever you go and whatever you do you have the greatest, greatest time because you've with you've been a fabulous host and a really exciting show. it's been quite a run. >> there's only one larry kudlow. and larry is the foremost spokesman for free market capitalism anywhere in the world. we're going to miss him, and this show has made a huge difference in the markets and in politics for the whole time it's been on. been on. let me talk to you about retirement. a 401(k) is the most sound way to go. let's talk asset allocation. sure. you seem knowledgeable, professional. would you trust me as your financial advisor? i would. i would indeed. well, let's be clear here. i'm actually a dj. 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[ whirring ] [ train whistle blows ] she makes trains that are friends with trees. ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ welcome back to "the kudlow report." as always, we are honored to be joined once again by an old friend of this show and a personal friend of mine. senate republican leader mitch mcconnell. and his wife, elaine chow, another dear friend. senator mcconnell, thank you so much. >> larry, it's great to be with you. i'm sorry the show is ending but i'm glad you're going to continue on cnbc. and i'll miss this show. i think it's been great. >> well, thank you, sir. you helped make it great. let me begin with i guess the hot issue, the white house is saying now 6 million people have signed up for obamacare. it's a controversial number. i just want to get your thoughts on it. >> well, you don't know whether these people had to -- are a pool of people who had to give up the insurance they had and liked. you don't know how many of them are medicaid, which is a totally different program. i don't think we know enough to know whether this is going to include a pool of younger people that makes the risk pool work. look, what we know for sure about obamacare, larry, it's a disaster all across the country. premiums are going up. jobs are being lost. the healthcare providers are confronted with chaos. all the hospital and hospice and nursing home cuts. no amount of effort i think is going to put any lipstick on this pig. you know, just look at this week. 14 exemptions here this week. so-called hardship exemptions. you know what, larry? i think everybody ought to get a hardship exemption from the individual mandate. >> let me switch gears if i can. there's some late-breaking news that president putin called president obama and putin is now willing to engage in some diplomatic activities, plans we don't know about or at least haven't specifically been reported yet. i wanted to ask you, your take on how president obama has played his cards so far. are you satisfied? do you think american interests are being represented? how do you see it, sir? >> well, it looks to me like america's adversaries know that the president likes to talk. you know, we're in a six-month discussion with the iranians. and president putin probably says barack obama likes to talk. but we know while the president's talking others are acting. what we should assume from the russians right now is the worst with regard to ukraine. we ought to give a robust military assistance package to ukraine. i hope the european union will speed up their admission to the u.n. we ought to re-engage with the poles and the czechs to install missile defense in the czech republic and poland. and you know, i think the g8 in the future ought to be the g-7. at the very least we ought to take all of those steps no matter how long putin wants to talk to the president. >> why can't we have -- let's take the senate for a moment. an emergency session or an emergency vote which would permit the export of oil and natural gas. i know we export some oil distillates and so forth. but there are bills going back to the late 1930s to prevent the escort, particularly of natural gas. which to me if we could get that over to europe and so forth, and to the ukraine would do great damage to russia's position and of course to their foreign exchange. why doesn't the senate and the house get together and just pass a bill that will allow us to help our allies by exporting natural gas and oil? >> yeah, i'm glad you brought up the export of liquefied natural gas. the reason the russians have as much influence as they do not only in ukraine but in other parts of europe is the oil and gas exports and to those areas, particularly gas. and i think now that we are the biggest natural gas producer in the world we certainly ought to be exporting it as rapidly as we can. the president seems not to be open to that. but you're absolutely right. >> well, i would think as soon as possible, particularly as these talks are going on. let me just wrap up one other one, senator. i know that everyone's campaigning on obamacare and that's going to be a very powerful weapon. an a.p. poll said 26% favor obamacare. i just saw that today. let me ask you, will there be in the republican message to take over the senate, do you all have an economic growth component in this thing that will also be sold as the election season comes upon us? >> sure. you know that obamacare's a job killer. the congressional budget office, which doesn't work for either the republicans or the democrats, said it's going to prevent the creation of 2.5 million jobs. if we want to get the economy going, and obamacare and the economy are the two big issues, we ought to get rid of obamacare. that's a job destroyer. quit all of this overregulation, which is slowing down our economy, and made this the most tepid recovery since the great recession in 2008. virtually everything, larry, this administration has done has brought about fewer jobs, not more. a new republican senate coupled with a republican house would try to push the president in an entirely different direction that has more confidence in the private sector, which is after all how we're going to get growth and opportunity and jobs for our people. >> i think if we had a stronger domestic economy, sir, we'd have a much stronger national security position. >> absolutely. >> i'm a reagan alumni. that was his credo. i heard my pal art laughert tell this show exactlit the same thing. growth, economic strength at home leads to strength in foreign policy and military policy and national security. >> well said. you're absolutely right, larry. >> all right, mitch mcconnell. senator mcconnell, we thank you very much, sir. appreciate it. thanks for coming on the "the kudlow report." >> thank you. >> all right. well, we got some agreement. many thanks. senator mitch mcconnell. we're going to convene the expert "kudlow report" political panel one last time. and tonight they will all be live on the set. maybe the first time. look at this all-star crew. look at them. we're going to talk about what we just heard from senator mcconnell, much more. and thanks again for joining us on the final edition of "the kudlow report." god bless all of you. we will be right back. just stay with us. >> larry, you and i have been partners for years and years, doing lots of, lots of adventures. and i assure you this one is not our last. as you've said to me many, many times, art, stick around, there's a lot more work for us to do. i'm there with you, larry. semper fidelis. your old friend art laffer. >> my first hit on cnbc was with you, larry, and i was admittedly nervous, but you made me feel right at home. thank you so much for all your support. you've been a mentor, a trusted friend, and a role model. >> larry, you're a living legend. nighttime tv will never be the same without you. and never forget that the best path to prosperity is free market capitalism. up. a short word that's a tall order. up your game. up the ante. and if you stumble, you get back up. up isn't easy, and we ought to know. we're in the business of up. everyday delta flies a quarter of million people while investing billions improving everything from booking to baggage claim. we're raising the bar on flying and tomorrow we will up it yet again. impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully fore investing. welcome back to "the kudlow report." we are live from cnbc headquarters. my next guests, great long-time friends of the show, and we are so thrilled to have them back with us. tonight, jared bernstein, former chief economist to vice president biden. jim pethokoukis of the american enterprise institute. steve moore, chief economist of the heritage foundation. and robert costa, "washington post" national political reporter. and i am very proud, you guys. you all made your mark on this show. unbelievable. >> great job. 11 years. >> unbelievable. anyway, let's talk. jimmy p., let me start with you. you wrote one of your great blogs and sort of where's the growth, can we return to growth, what happened to the 4% solution, the 4% estimates of the obama administration. what happened to them? >> well, they were a little bit overly optimistic about the effect of a keynesian stimulus program to boost this economy. they thought government could do it, government could ignite it. government never ignites the economy. what ignites the economy, capitalism, private enterprise, more start-ups. there's one thing we've learned from the obama years. taxes are bad for the economy. you know what else? regulation and crony capitalism can just choke an economy as -- i think we've seen too much of that. >> i've got to give you response time. >> thank you. >> because we have civil discourse on this show. but i will say this. it's interesting. my great friend jim cramer was on last night. jimmy was always a democrat. i was always the republican. but he is really furious with the red tape and he says it's holding back small businesses which are the big job creators. >> let me just say first of all that i feel incredibly privileged to be here with you because of all the folks that we've had on this set in our discussions i'm the one that disagrees with you and with them the most. and the fact that you've continued to come back and have these arguments with me is a testament to just how you're able to disagree without being disagreeable. and you don't see that a lot in this town. >> thank you. >> look, those kinds of -- >> start with obama. >> those kinds of platitudes about capitalism and all that, i'm all for them. capitalism, best path to -- when you're in the midst of the deepest recession since the great depression, you've got to do something. and when i was sitting around today thinking in over a decade of arguing with larry kudlow, what are some things that we agree on? one of the things i said we agree on, growth, definitely. we agree on capitalism. i think we also agree, but you'll tell me if i'm wrong. you've done it before. i think we also agree that when the economy is in the soup like you that you need some temporary, temporary measures from the fiscal and the monteety side to help boost things in the near term. >> you know, i boot into this -- >> i thought you kind of came a little bit to my side. >> i bought into the temporary monetary stimulus, the first round in late 2008, early 2009. the fiscal package, jared, i couldn't buy into it. first of all, i don't think spending multipliers work. but i would have gone toward permanent lower taxes and real tax reform. i think it's the one thing that president obama and his group never really did. and i've talked to austan goolsbee about this a number of times and i talked to you about it a number of times. i even talked to the president years ago before the inauguration when we were at george will's house. i felt tax reform would have been -- >> i think the deal there is this is a long disagreement between us. a third of the stimulus were tax cuts, but you're right, they were temporary. because we've just never seen the relationship between taxes and growth and you've always touted on the show. >> but can i say something about growth, though? this economy is teed up right now. i really believe that. some of the mistakes the obama administration's made, and notwithstanding obamacare which is a big negative, what's the headline today? record profits for american corporations. >> true. >> what aren't they doing, larry? they're not reinjecting that economy into hiring more workers -- >> but steve, if obama's so lousy, how come -- >> no, let me finish my point. i actually think we're going to see a big growth spurt in 2014. i think we're just primed for a big growth in profits -- >> why? >> because the strength of the american entrepreneur. you can't hold the businesses back. they have retooled themselves. i mean, the one thing that's happened in this terrible recession that we had and the recovery, american businesses now are the best-run companies in the world. they are lean, mean fighting machines. >> i agree with that. i also agree with jimmy cramer's point that the smaller businesses have held back. they've been denied a lot of loans up until maybe very recently. >> but what we've got now is some gridlock in washington and that ain't such a bad thing. >> robert costa. politically, do you see any major policy changes, let's say -- let's start with this year. >> no, i don't. i think when you look at what house republicans are doing they've started to acknowledge a divided government is not going to yield any major conservative gains. so they're mostly playing defense and they're trying to move their message and agenda away from the shutdown politics of the fall. you see, when i interviewed eric cantor recently he was talking about the so-called middle-class squeeze. he was talking about jobs but he wasn't really articulating a broad, vigorous growth message. you see some talk about obamacare. but it's really a small ball agenda. and i think they're just trying to play it safe ahead of the midterms. and the democrats, you guys are right, the president's focused on regulations. he's focused on his pen. he doesn't think he can get anything done with this divided congress. so i think we're going to see some very incremental political bills the rest of the year. >> why can't they do -- i asked this, i asked senator mcconnell. why can't they pass a bill that would permit the export of natural gas, lng? to me whether you're republican or democrat, politics stops at the water's edge. i have done everything i can to stay behind president obama. i think he's handled himself reasonably well. but export. why won't they just go ahead and do it? >> because democrats right now, they're on the ropes when it comes to the affordable care act. you see what happens in florida's 13th congressional district. a really struggle for them there. so what are they going to run on? they have to have -- maybe jared knows a little more. democrats have to get the base animated on things like climate change. >> the smartest things right now would be to take larry kudlow's advice, stop talking about the affordable care act and start talking about exporting energy because actually the obama -- you guys might not like, this but the energy record under the obama administration has been very strong. by the way, i would also like to see an infrastructure bill, a transportation bill. we should invest in more infrastructure. >> pipeline infrastructure. including keystone. >> my point is that this is something that democrats and republicans have historically agreed upon. stop fighting about the affordable care act -- >> but you know what? >> give up fighting on the affordable care. surrender before the affordable care act. and then we can move on to the environment. >> the next big step on the oil and gas revolution, which is the biggest economic story out there, so much of that oil and gas is on public lands, and that's where president obama is, not allowing the kind of development we need. you know, in three or four years we could be exporting oil and gas rather than importing. >> we are now net exports of oil and gas products. >> i'm talking about oil. >> the other thing is actually you wrote about this, and we talked about it at that baxter radio show. but jimmy p., you've got this epa and other agencies, so they want to preserve birds. and by preserving certain -- i love birds, but if birds mean fencing off millions of acres of land that could be used to frac for oil and particularly natural gas i don't love birds so much. epa wants to close down the coal business, basically. and some people argue that the coal business has improved and reduced its carbon content and we could export a lot of coal. these are things, i mean, it's driving me crazy. >> listen, instead of treating this energy revolution as an out of the blue amazing gift, they treat it like one of those gifts at christmas when they get the fruitcake or something. it's a fruitcake, can i give it back? they want to give this gift back that is really key to american prosperity, that we can get this economy finally growing. i'd say 3% at this point. >> these are $100,000 jobs. >> these are good blue-collar jobs. >> i think the idea that the first -- for the first time in 60 years over the obama administration's term we are net exporters of petroleum products -- >> i've got to get out. >> i think the president has -- >> the president is great at taking credit. i would too. but he had nothing to do with it. steve moore, robert costa, and jim pethokoukis. and jared bernstein. now, i have a special message for the viewers and all the friends of "the kudlow report" over all these years. it's a message of thanks. it's next up. please stay with us on "kudlow." ♪ [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big? could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. ok, last quarter... [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. >> from cnbc headquarters, this is cnbc's "america now." from washington to wall street, how the big stories affect you. >> good evening. i'm jim cramer. >> and i'm larry kudlow. >> we decide to make it easier for everyone and rename this program "kudlow & cramer" or "-centimeter & kudlow." >> here we go. >> item calling it heads. >> tails it is. >> oh, son of a gun! well done. kudlow & cramer. >> this is cnbc's "kudlow & cramer." >> good evening. i'm jim cramer. >> and i'm larry kudlow. >> good evening. i'm larry kudlow. welcome to the debut of "kudlow & company." >> good evening, everyone. i'm larry kudlow. welcome to the new "kudlow report." >> and now a "kudlow & company" exclusive. one on one with president bush. >> we cut the taxes, which was a big debate here in washington, d.c. >> mr. vice president, as always, sir, welcome back to "the kudlow report." >> we are here in washington with mr. secretary henry paulson. mr. secretary, thank you very much for coming back on. >> larry, good to be with you. >> are we in a recession right now, sir? >> well, larry, what i'm saying is we're clearly in a difficult period. >> governor chris christie, welcome to "the kudlow report." we're honored, sir. >> happy to be here, larry, thanks. >> alaska republican governor sarah palin. governor palin, thank you ever so much for coming on. >> mr. geithner, thank you very much. >> good to be here, larry. >> ex-chairman and ceo fred smith. if there's a better businessman in this country, i don't know him. fred, welcome back to the show. >> thank you, larry, for that kind introduction. >> donald trump, welcome back to "the kudlow report." i appreciate it. >> good, larry. >> massachusetts governor mitt romney. governor romney, welcome back to the show. >> thanks, larry, good g. to be with you. >> i'm wliev live at the republican convention in tampa, florida. >> mr. cantor, we appreciate it. >> budget chairman paul ryan, we appreciate your time very much this morning. i personally do. >> great to be back with you, larry. thanks for having me. >> all right. great stuff. wonderful memories. jimmy cramer was so great last night and so kind. and that original stuff was fantastic. all right. let me just tack a moment and say a few words of thanks and gratitude and humility. to all the viewers and well wishers who have e-mailed and tweeted so beautifully and wonderfully, i am humbled. just in the last couple of days. it's been my honor to host this show for the past nine years. before that with my great pal jim cramer for three years. and let me say how wonderful jimmy was when he came on last night. now, you know my credo. free market capital mds is tism best path to prosperity. and let me add to that from our founding fathers, our creator endowed us with the inalienable rights to life, length, and the pursuit of happiness. in other words, freedom. freedom to work, invest, take risks, and the freedom to get rewards and incentives that motivate us all. it is freedom that makes this the greatest country in the world. and it is freedom that so frequently keeps me on the optimistic side of life. down through the years we've always tried to represent all points of view on this show. left, right, and center. and in what i hope was a civil and respectful way i have tried to listen and learn and debate both my liberal and my conservative friends. civil discourse on the issues of the day is what we always try to do. and salted with some financial market advice, which i sometimes got right and sometimes got wrong. i'm also proud to have recruited some of the best minds to be our expert guests. many of them have never been seen on television before. now they are going on to their own bright careers, and it makes me proud. and finally, i want to thank this network. not only for the privilege of hosting this show but for giving me a second chance in life that resulted in a new career. this from a guy who nearly 20 years ago was completely shipwrecked on a sea of hopeless alcohol and drug abuse. and i went away for a long time. and with the help of many people i learned to replace addiction with faith. and it is that faith that guides me every day. again, let me thank all the viewers who have stayed with me down through the years and all who have wished me well. i am truly grateful. and i will be beginning a new chapter as a senior contributor here at cnbc. it is the place where i call home. and to all of you out there, as always, thank you, and god bless you. and we will be right back. and i am a blessed person. avo: wherever your journey takes you the expedia app helps you save with mobile-exclusive deals download the expedia app text expedia to 75309 expedia, find yours could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.s everybody knows that. well, did you know bad news doesn't always travel fast? (clears throat) hi mister tompkins. todd? you're fired. well, gotta run. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or mor today is the final "kudlow report." and we just want to remind everyone that even though larry won't be on at 7:00 you'll still see plenty of opportunities with him on cnbc. next week he'll be on "closing bell," "street signs," "power lunch" and breaking down the all-important jobs report on "squawk box" on friday. and be sure to share your thoughts and appreciation with larry on twitter using the #thankslarry all one word. so many politicians and leaders have already done so. we want to hear from all of you. finds to the cake boss the team at the balkry we got an amazing cake. and here's larry's lovely wife judy to bring it out. on the cake is the kudlow creed, what you've always taught us, that free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. yay. it's gorgeous. there it is. [ applause ] look at all these former staffers here, too. >> it's unbelievable. it's unbelievable. and of course she didn't tell me. she never does. you did this a couple years ago to me on my birthday. and you look beautiful, sweetheart. susan varga, who has just basically run my life all these years. i'm very glad you're here. and as i said before, i am a grateful camper. i really am. the lord has blessed me with a beautiful bride, a great life, second chance, a new career. some wonderful friends, and some of the best debates on tv that there ever was. and i don't want to go on forever about it. i just feel this is wonderful, and i'm looking forward to my commentaries on cnbc. it's going to be great stuff. i'm going to try to really infect daytime tv with free market capitalism. really work on that as best that i can. so i'll just say thanks to everybody here in this room. god bless. laura. been with us from the earliest cramer & kudlow days. it's the darnedest thing. [ applause ] making us look like human beings. and patty works on me all the time. and oh, my god. it's great stuff. anyway, thank you. i love you all. i'm larry kudlow. we'll be right back. [ applause ] [ applause ] ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. >> narrator: in this episode of "american greed" -- in a small town, a money manager named bob mclean is a noted philanthropist, giving away millions to charities. >> it's a pledge from my heart to your heart. >> he reveled in that attention. i think he was totally in his element. "i am a good guy, i am taking care of my city, and i'm taking care of my people." >> narrator: but is mclean's show of wealth just phony philanthropy? >> he did support causes that he appeared to care about. the problem is, you've got to remember where the money came from. he was donating using other from. he was donating using other people's money. -- captions by vitac --

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