When I first saw this headline, over the by-line of Bruce Bartlett - former Reagan and Bush The First official - I thought I was dreaming. Or that someone was playing a joke or writing a piece of satire. But, no, it is for real:
Tax Cuts And 'Starving The Beast'
The most pernicious fiscal doctrine in history.
Bartlett's article is a fairly comprehensive "history" of recent tax cut theory which, among other things, includes this:
When Bill Clinton became president in 1993, one of his first acts in office was to push through Congress--with no Republican support--a big tax increase. Starve the beast theory predicted a big increase in spending as a consequence. But in fact, federal outlays fell from 22.1% of GDP in 1992 to 18.2% of GDP by the time Clinton left office.
Although all of evidence of the previous 20 years clearly refuted starve the beast theory, George W. Bush was an enthusiastic supporter, using it to justify liquidation of the budget surpluses he inherited from Clinton on massive tax cuts year after year. Bush called them "a fiscal straightjacket for Congress" that would prevent an increase in spending. Of course nothing of the kind occurred. Spending rose throughout his administration to 20.7% of GDP in 2008.
This is something the public is not likely to hear about during the weeks preceding the mid-term elections. And I'm certain that if Bartlett's opinion were to become more widely known the GOP would excoriate him and claim that his writings are the ravings of an Obama-loving Kenyan socialist, who is secretly anti-colonial.
But my favorite section was Bartlett's conclusion:
Starve the beast was a theory that seemed plausible when it was first formulated. But more than 30 years later it must be pronounced a total failure. There is not one iota of empirical evidence that it works the way it was supposed to, and there is growing evidence that its impact has been perverse--raising spending and making deficits worse. In short, STB is a completely bankrupt notion that belongs in the museum of discredited ideas, along with things like alchemy.
I have said this over and over until I am blue in the face, so it was shocking to see it written in a publication that people might actually read.
Supply-side economics, "starve the beast," and all of its attendant hooey is a theory. It has never worked as advertised. In fact, the overall result of putting this theory into practice has been the slow and painful screwing of the middle-class.
As Bartlett says, "There is not one iota of empirical evidence that it works the way it is supposed to..."
The Republican Party has used supply-side theory as a tool for duping the public, winning votes and staying in power at the cost of the destruction of American families' lives, savings, homes and futures.
The GOP's "Pledge to America" promises more of the same.
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