republican incumbent cindy hyde-smith is debating her opponent, former congressman mike sb. their only debate ahead of the runoff election next tuesday. we will have the debate tonight at 10:20 pm eastern here on c-span. new congress starts, there will be more than 100 new house and senate members. the democrats will control the house, the republicans, the senate. congress, new leaders. watch the process unfold on c-span. larry kudlow is the director of the white house national economic council. he spoke with reporters this morning outside of the white house about the stock market, trade with china, and tax cuts. this is 20 minutes.

>> good morning. : we are ready about this. i wish you would ask about the markets. how are they doing? >> looks like the nasdaq will be negative for the year. what will the president's trade policy look like? i don't know that they will negative. we might finish high. what role is trade playing? there are a lot of factors here. i do not want to get into the architecture of these corrections. as i have said many times, corrections come and go. i hate to see anybody lose any money anytime, that we know that is the reality of it. have roughly one month left.

we will see how the year ends. again, i will say as i did earlier that the economy is very sad. it is funny. if you go back a couple of phenomenal job's number. right? 200 50,000 jobs. nobody expected that. rate wasll, the wage 3.1% year on year. the unemployment rate was 3.7%. those were shockingly good numbers. that the stocknd market selloff has perhaps dampened some of that optimist economy is doing extremely well. i do not want to lose sight of that. i'm not here to make predictions about the stock market, arguably you know as much or more about it than i do. i am just saying the economy is doing very, very well. one nugget i had this morning for everybody, a very important

release -- i do not want to get too deep into the weeds, but this is important. the output of batteries and so number when itd was released last week. inside of that number, business was booming -- up five straight months, 13 point 1% at an annual rate for the past three. i say that because business equipment, which is very important to our scenario, looked a little soft at the end of q3, although the numbers might have been somewhat low key , but it looks like it is coming on strong in q4. i am hopeful. all cylinders.on income is rising. that is great. i am just saying, let's not forget the news. high major. major. >> stock acquisitions and

dividends. higher wages. there does seem to be heavier on either dividends or stock buybacks than what was projected by economists. mr. kudlow: you know, let me say this. there is nothing wrong with stock buybacks or dividends. it just means shareholders get the money. that's a good thing. they will reinvest that money. but, but, but -- we have had investment business capital spending, what the street calls capex. it looked little soft in q3. latesti mentioned, the

equipment expenditures are booming. i think you are going to see -- i have said this before. with the lower tax rates on large and small businesses and 100% expansion, i think a big urge for men and women to own and operate is part of the new phase of the trump economy. also, the blue-collar gains. i think it is going to be the best investment cycle that we will have in 20 years. be non-dark -- nonpartisan. >> you said that during the lame-duck the republicans will put together a senate release. -- a senate resolution. mr. kudlow: i think we're all

newly non-that right now. 2.0, oneax reform version of which got through the house already -- kevin brady -- i think we're all looking at it. i think lots of changes to make the code more efficient, and more pro-growth. ,latter rates for everybody particularly the middle class. get rid of the loopholes. you could have pay for some a lot of this stuff, but it is early. nothing will happen in the lame duck. i don't see it. but some of my best friends are democrats. that does not mean we cannot get something in this session. >> but larry, as democrats take over next year, do you -- mr. kudlow: takeover? >> the house, yes. will they put up roadblocks? mr. kudlow: no. i don't think so. i beg your pardon.

resultsdo not see any that will roll back the trump economic growth policy. businesses,s, small large businesses, individuals, middle and income low marginal , rolling, way back back the regulation, a tremendous surge in the unlocking of energy -- these are big forces behind the recovery, which has jumped from less than 2% to over 3% growth. do i see -- no. i do not think so. we have picked up a seat in the senate. i do not want to get to partisan here. i'm just saying, the people in the senate who helped to get the trump plan in place will be even stronger, and frankly i think if anybody really wants to roll back the trump plan, i think he

would veto it. this is the best growth we have had in years and years. it is because of his policies. he is an optimist. he has changed the whole psychology of this country. right. he has said many times that we will reward business. the war against energy is over. that takes a rip at the ball. i've got your back. these policies will not change. what about the wall? the president continues to push for the wall. if there is not going to be a wall, major ceos say if this wall happens then he blocks low-wage workers from coming into the country. it will cause prices to go up. talk to me about that. to getlow: i do not want deep into that point. i appreciate the question. the president has for quite some

overall immigration reform plan. i think it is quite good. we want to move towards legal immigration, obviously. we want to move toward a merit system. we want to move toward law and order. he is going to be insisting upon that. heardtings yesterday, i him absolutely insist on border security. i do not think that is going away. your applications -- you know, i think regarding all of these , we understand that businesses have certain requirements. we will try to accommodate that wherever possible. but it has to be done legally. it has to be done with enforcement. it is a very complicated issue. we are aware of what business needs. >> but what you say to that? mr. kudlow: i think if we do this right, immigration reform,

legal immigration reform, a numeric system -- if we do this right, you know, e-verify -- the economy will benefit enormously. there will be new opportunities for legal immigrants. yes-man. -- yes, ma'am. >> the president was originally supposed to go to columbia as part of the trip, i called it off citing scheduling concerns. can you tell us about those concerns? heak to the possibility that could visit troops in iraq or afghanistan. a second question on the g20. saudi arabia is supposed to host the g20 in 2020. does the u.s. have a position on that? great question. i do not want to get ahead of the game. i just cannot comment on that. it will all unfold.

mr. bolton and others will have a lot to say about that over a period of time. i do not mean to dodge, but it is outside of my lane. i am economics guy. >> you're the guy going to the g20. mr. kudlow: i will be the last guy with a filing. >> how about the tension between the vice president and xi jinping? what do you do in regards to china? i thought thehn, vice president stood up for america. i really did. he made his case before. he spoke to the president several times during that meeting. a lot of opposition. as i understand it. i wasn't there. my deputies were there. , a lot ofe countries opposition to what china was trying to do with respect to this idea of infrastructure and

forcing debt down there, and in fact using chinese workers, not even local workers. a lot of opposition to what the chinese are doing. a seem not to like it. i do not want to conclude anything. i saw the vice president yesterday. will come to a head at the g20. i think that is the key point. defendedident pence american interests, as he always does. >> what about market volatility? knew you are going to ask me about volatility. i absolutely had you pegged. so i checked this morning. we are all into the fix. it is only 20. it's not bad. it isn't bad. it was a lot worse 10-12 years ago. keep the faith. it is a very strong economy.

god knows you do not want to kudlow prediction. i am saying that the basic economy is real wakened. it is going to stay there. the weirdestome of stuff. a recession is around the corner. nonsense. my personal view? our administrations do? far in thes so distance, i cannot see it. >> let's switch gears. do you have reaction to the ivanka trump's use of a personal and mail account? -- use of a personal email account? think the absolute world of the ivanka trump, who is a brilliant woman and a very important advisor to all of us. period. >> one of the criticisms of the tax bill was that we are dealing with a future recession.

one of the criticisms was that regarding another tax cut. what if you are wrong? you said the recession was far off. what if you are wrong? where cutting taxes now in the economy is still doing well. know, i wouldu love to talk to you about this at much greater length. these are supply-side tax cuts. these are not demand side. we're not destroying cash in the economy. lowing -- we are lowering the marginal tax rate on llcs, large and small. that means you keep more of what you earn and invest. those are permanent reductions in marginal tax rates. they do not expire.

we're not about to let them expire. here. we're creating incentives. hang on one second. toare creating incentives increase the economy's potential to grow. do you follow? it is coming from the supply side of the economy. it is not the demand side. one of theway, reasons inflation is coming on. hang on a second. about one year ago, the feds deflated measurement was 2.7%. it has dropped back to 1.4%. one of the key reasons is a steady, strong dollar. we are creating and increasing good services. if you have a bumper crop of supplies, what happens? the price comes down. this is a different kind of tax

cut. i lived through it. look it. i hate to do this. so immodest of me, but there is a wonderful book out there. it is called "jfk and the reagan revolution." it is all there. one click on you know what. >> what if there is nothing left? what if there is no where to go? what happens? isn't it better to have flexibility? to have that instead of possibly putting nitrous into the economy? you know, i cannot think anything -- i cannot think of anything healthier for the economy in the long run been to reduce marginal tax rates. this is me talking, not the administration. flat marginal tax rates for

individuals and businesses. take out the flotsam and jetsam and so-called loopholes and make a simple code that everybody can understand. put it on a postcard. sentencecreate mass in for the kind of growth we have in the 60's, the 80's. we are having it right now. >> i think goldman put out a number of 1.75. there?e gdp flow mr. kudlow: i do not even remotely agree with that. my distinguished friend and had ague kevin hassett very spirited critique of the goldman sachs track record. i am a nicer guy. if you want to footnote that at

greater length, please talk to kevin. >> you mentioned hourly wages. people willve that spend during this holiday? or will it be softer than normal? mr. kudlow: incomes are doing very well. >> but the retail stocks are down. mr. kudlow: god help us. i'm just saying that incomes are rising. we have blue-collar incomes. my favorite supply-side newspaper, "the washington post" did a wonderful study, i believe it was heather long, that the biggest gainers in employment growth and jobs growth or the blue-collars -- the blue collars. you are at a point right now where is the expansion flourishes, income will rise. by the way, here is one more. >> but will people spend?

mr. kudlow: of course they will. i'm not opposed to savings. savings become investments. but the oil price in the last few weeks dropped how much? $20? do you think that will help? i do. by the way, inflation is coming down. >> how does that affect the oil price? how does adding venezuela to the state sponsor of terrorist list help oil? i am sorry. i'm not sure where you're going. as taxes ofay that fallen substantially in the last few weeks, that is going to benefit consumers. and producers can still make good money. one last question. i really want to get this. yes sir. >> the fed is increasing

interest rates. it has been said that that is a suicide mission. what is your view on that? look, i will not critique fed policy today. all i will say is, my view -- take it for what it is worth -- ife i'm a supply-sider the economy grows faster than expected, the shares will come down. , if theple establishment forecasters here in town say you cannot do better than 2%, and the actual scoreboard produces 3% or more, i believe it would be something like $3.5 trillion of lower to gets, the trick is them down is a shared gdp. has indicated a very tough nickel budget for reduction.

i think that is going to be a very strong piece. years, theyt few will come down substantially. it is too cold for all of us. thank you very very much. >> tonight on c-span, fda commissioner scott godley and others will discuss the latest advancements in cancer treatment and patient care. we will have added 8:00 p.m.. in the run-up election for mississippi's u.s. senate race, cindy hyde-smith is debating her democratic opponent, former congressman and click new administration agricultural secretary mike sb. next tuesday.ate we will have the debate tonight at 10:20 p.m. eastern, here on c-span. coming up on thanksgiving

weekend on the c-span network, on c-span thursday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, supreme court justice elena kagan, followed by john roberts friday at 8:00 p.m.. former new jersey governor chris christie and others discuss the opioid epidemic. everyday at 8:00 p.m., but are about their favorite photographs taken on the campaign trail. sunday at 6:30 p.m., don laws and self-defense. c-span twoon thursday at 8:30 p.m., stanley mcchrystal talks about 13 great leaders. friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern. 8:00,hunter, saturday at lindsay a dario talks about photos she has taken, and sunday at 9:00, pulitzer prize-winning journalist was a antonio vargas.