Sunday, September 4, 2011

Krugsandra's Been Right for Decades Now

Krugsandra from 1996 on the supply-sider's prediction of dire catastrophe if we raise taxes on the rich:
In 1993, after the Clinton administration had pushed through an increase in taxes on upper-income families, the very same people who have persuaded Dole to run on a tax-cut platform were very sure about what would happen. Newt Gingrich confidently predicted a severe recession. Articles in Forbes magazine urged readers to get out of the stock market to avoid the inevitable crash. The Wall Street Journal editorial page had no doubts that the tax increase would sharply increase the deficit instead of reducing it. Well here we are, three years later: The economy has created 10 million new jobs, the market is up by 1500 points, and the deficit has been cut in half. I'm not saying that Clinton's policies led to that result--they account for only part of the good news about the deficit, and hardly any of the rest. But the point is that the supply-siders were absolutely sure that his policies would produce disaster--and indeed, if their doctrine had any truth to it, they would have.
Why are we incapable of learning from the past? What is it about American conservatives? Are they really so stupid?

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