Bad Ideas Never Die
ArchPundit
Over at Illinois Review, I am provided with a fine laugh as they promote the Laffer curve because of a visit from Laffer. The Laffer curve was never a serious piece of economics as Jonathan Chait pointed out in a wickedly funny bit on how Republican economic policy has been formed.
Adherents of supply-side economics tend to describe the spread of their creed in quasi-religious terms. Irving Kristol subsequently wrote in a memoir, “It was Jude [Wanniski] who introduced me to Jack Kemp, a young congressman and a recent convert. It was Jack Kemp who, almost single-handed, converted Ronald Reagan to supply-side economics.” The theological language is fitting because supply-side economics is not merely an economic program. It’s a totalistic ideology. The core principle is that economic performance hinges almost entirely on how much incentive investors and entrepreneurs have to attain more wealth, and this incentive in turn hinges almost entirely on their tax rate. Therefore, cutting taxes– especially those of the rich, who carry out the decisive entrepreneurial role in the economy–is always a good idea.
After 8 years of unhinged faith based foreign policy, domestic policy and economic policy, they want more. Evidence be damned.