Republican ideology says that tax cuts are always good for the economy. If they don’t work, that means you didn’t cut taxes hard enough. Art Laffer promoted this nonsense with a clear truth and a maximal delusion. (Pun intended.) We have suffered trillions of dollars of budget busting giveaways to the rich for forty years, as part of the vicious Starve the Beast project to bust the budget and try to force cuts to social programs. We are just now getting over it with Bidenomics, which has provoked maximal Wrong-Wing screaming—almost the clearest sign possible that we need to do more of it.
Well, there is, of course, the current and now the projected state of the actual economy, where
- The Dow has reached 37,000 for the first time. (Good for the rich, and also for your IRA or 401K or union pension fund)
- Unions are roaring back.
- Wage gains are outpacing inflation.
- The US has record investments in industry, and record employment.
- The Fed is proposing interest rate cuts for next year.
- Even rents are coming down.
All of this is occurring as we claw back tax giveaways and increase IRS enforcement.
Trump gives creator of failed economic theory the Medal of Freedom
Hayes gave a shoutout to the Ferris Buehler movie for its shoutout to Voodoo Economics.
OK, so what did Laffer get right, and so thoroughly wrong? How did it fit with the whole Republican ideology?