"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
.. .
In article , "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

You may want to take a look:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply-side_economics

Interesting article -- yet it fails to provide the most crucial (to this
discussion) datum: a graph of tax revenues vs. tax rates.

True, it's all about the economic ideas rather than the evidence.

In that regard, tax revenues have consistently fallen behind the losses
due
to tax cuts during the times that supply-side economics has been in
ascendance. If you look at it in terms of the Laffer curve, it implies
that
all of the activity has been on the left side of the curve, which is the
side where the revenues from tax cuts are slight, and the losses from tax
cuts are large. This agrees with the fact that we're running a substantial
deficit.

Supply-siders are avoiding acknowledging the left-side arguments because
they're accurate descriptions of what has actually happened; all you have
to
do is measure revenues and tax rates, and plunk the results down on the
curve. They're also damned inconvenient to the supply-siders' theories,
because they suggest that, in terms of tax revenues, our taxes are already
too low. Compared to the rest of the world that does appear to be the
case.

However, that's another argument. And the Laffer Curve is about tax
revenues, not directly about the health of the economy. So I don't want to
even try to argue this one. It's much too complicated.

The Wikipedia links do a good job of fleshing it out, for anyone with that
much interest in the ideas and, more importantly, the evidence.

--
Ed Huntress


I actually get a chuckle out of the supply side "experts". They want to sell
the public a bunch of bull**** and dress it up in fancy economic terms to
make it sound like it makes sense. Think about it. What they are saying
basically is this. Lower the rate of taxes the government charges the
population and you will wind up taking in more money. On it's face it's
ridiculous. Ask the public to pay in less money to the system and the
government will have more money. Give me a break. It's a total con job. If
the government wants money from the public it collects taxes. If it needs a
little money it collects a little in taxes. If it needs a lot of money it
collects a lot in taxes. It does this by raising or lowering the rate. It's
so simple that the act of raising taxes is what the government does to get
more money that no one has ever questioned it. Now the supply siders come
along and say lower the rate and more will come in. As Ed pointed out the
record is in. When the government did what the supply siders wanted two
things happened. One, less money came in and two, the deficit ballooned.
Take away inflation, and raises in FICA taxes under Reagan and the revenue
was actually less. So in the end it turns out that supply side is what many
thought it was right from the start, a con job perpetuated by the right wing
to benefit it's core constituent groups wealth and business. I'm shocked!

Hawke