Why are we still pretending 'trickle-down' economics work?
Why are we still pretending 'trickle-down' economics work?
Morris Pearl at the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/12/why-are-we-still-pretending-trickle-down-economics-work
"SNIP.....
Most likely, it’s because Laffer’s theory just so happens to serve as the basis for every terrible tax cut that Trump and the Republican party have passed for decades.
It all began in 1974, when Laffer walked into a bar with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who were working for the Ford administration at the time. Out of it came the “Laffer curve,” a U-shaped graph illustrating the relationship between tax rates and revenue.
The ends of the curve are basic enough – at a tax rate of 0, the government will raise $0 in revenue, and at a tax rate of 100, the government will still raise $0 in revenue because people won’t work without take-home pay.
At the extremes, the Laffer curve is correct, but that doesn’t tell us anything about the points in the middle. Laffer’s idea, however, was that a “tipping point” existed on the continuum in between, where people’s incentives to work and invest decreased because tax rates were too onerous.
.....SNIP"
= new reply since forum marked as read
the professor instructed the auditorium-sized class to open our brand-new textbooks to a certain page and, once all open, to permanently cross out a section describing the dynamics of the Laffer curve and national revenue. Absolutely no explanation given. He just smiled and rocked on his heels as he waited and then welcomed us to macroecon. 
Apparently some political maneuvering had gotten it put in as if it was established thought belonging in a beginning text. He seemingly disagreed even though it hadn't even had a chance to fail spectacularly in application under Reagan yet (from our point of view, of course, not that of the beneficiaries), so he "removed" it.
He always seemed privately amused by us, so I'm guessing he'd find manage to find something funny in an author of Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy.” getting the Medal of Freedom from a president who certainly never read past the part with his name on it, at a time when the economy was again proving Laffer's trickle down completely wrong.
I think mine was "the previous class," though. The scoundrels who created Reaganomics were already busy, but Reagan came later.
I always remember that teacher with a smile. He never gave any indication of political leanings or discussed politics in any way. I assume a solid foundation of understanding is what he wanted to offer.
A's were extremely hard to get, really had to understand and be able to use in tough problems beyond what had been presented; but just passing with a C (for the auditorium full of disinterested kids who just wanted a business degree for middlin' jobs) only required memorizing the material he told us to. Neat person, later 50s then, often grinning at us as he quizzed students but never saying why. I'm smiling as I remember. Hope he had a long, wonderful retirement.
