Reply #1: snip, [View All]

[cleofus1]

..."Clearly the Laffer curve is not working. Arthur Laffer argued in the 1970s that taxes beyond a certain point become counter-productive, decreasing the incentive to work. A concept central to supply-side economics, it inspired the Kemp-Roth tax cut of 1981, based on the notion that lower tax rates, i.e., tax cuts, generate more revenue as savings are used to create more jobs. David Stockman, President Reagan's budget director, lost his job partly for pointing out that Reagan and others in his administration took the Laffer curve literally, when it was nothing more than a highly problematical theory that gave politicians a campaign issue. "There is no literal Laffer curve," Stockman insisted as he was being shown the door.

He was right, for the extra money enjoyed by the rich is not trickling down. The census report indicates that a few more jobs were created last year but notes that they are low-end jobs; they don't pay a living wage. People at the low end of the pay scale working at Wal-Mart, for example, are eligible for food stamps in many states.

If more people understood the failure of supply-side economics, there would be more outrage when the Census Bureau releases such statistics, when evidence is presented that gives the lie to the carelessly celebrated promise of American life, when we are called once again to face the fact that while many of us in America are blessed with economic well-being, many are not. "...