How do you lower the tax rate by 20%, throw two trillion dollars to the military, and never raise the deficit? When the math doesn't hold up, there can be only one way -- Magic!
George H. W. Bush was justly alarmed at opponent Ronald Reagan's tax proposals during the 1979 Republican primaries. To lower taxes and expect government revenues to increase defied common sense and economic history. Reagan managed to shut Bush up by choosing him as running mate, went on to implement his plan, and tripled the deficit.
You might think that such obvious non-performance would doom Reagan's conjecture to a cold, dark place in history, but here it is again, all spruced up. During the debate, Ryan's (lack of) specificity is the proof that the R/R budget plan in the same old witchcraft in a new rapper. They couldn't make it work in real life, so they are having recourse to the spirit world. Right now, Mitt is back stage rolling the bones and sacrificing a chicken.
The science of economics has been particularly cursed by an abundance of bogus theories. Most of them continue past a timely death because some hack learns to make money off them. We have a chance to shut down this fantasizing with a few well chosen words. Let's make Howard Cosell proud and tell it like it is:
"It's Voodoo Economics."