Yep... That's Arthur Laffer, father of Supply Side Economic theory, or as I like to call him, Uncle Arthur. He's one of the guy who invented Supply Side Economics and definitely the public face of it. The famous story of him drawing his "Laffer Curve" on a cocktail napkin for some Reagan staff member that led to this branch of economic theory gaining popularity back in the late 1970's is legendary and has led to Uncle Art getting his name in a LOT of economic text books. It gained him much fame and a lot of elbow rubbing with VIP's and more than enough money for several lifetimes.
I wonder if Uncle Art was trying to be ironic with the title of his little video and its Laff-ably simple explanation of Romney's tax plan. You'll note, that like Ryan and Romney, Art offers no specifics, merely generalities about
creat(ing) jobs, output, employment and growth
while continuing the claim that it's not really a tax cut because Obama ignores all the deductions that Romney is going to eliminate. Of course once again, their's no specifics about WHICH deductions will be eliminated.The Joint Committee on Taxation
says no tax cut above 4% could be revenue neutral even when you eliminate every single deduction there is, but at least that tax cut plan would actually help lower and middle income folks while raising taxes on the highest earners. If you go all the way to the 20% accross the board cut that Mitt is talking about, there's simply no way to make it work,
Ryan's Six Studies claim notwithstanding.
That's before we start breaking down the other rhetoric and point out that "employment" and "jobs" are the same thing as are "output" and "growth" but what the heck, it makes a nice soundbite.
Naturally, this is the exact same trickle-down, tax the poor bullshit he and the rest of the rich folks in control of GOP tax policy have been peddling since it first gained Uncle Art enough fame to be able to do TV commercials for Cadillac, and Art's not done there. He also Laff-ably repeats the claim that is central to the GOP 47% theory that
If you tax people who work and pay people who don't, don't be surprised when you find a lot of people not working. I mean that's pretty common sense.
Of course it isn't actually common sense, because it misses the most basic part of the analysis that NO ONE is achieving the American dream while living off government payments.
I'm living proof of that fact and the second I could return to work I did, because I just don't see life being all that enjoyable when I'm taking home $15,000/year and forced to take a room in a relative's house. Maybe all those folks living in government operated housing projects feel differently and are actually laff-ing it up at Uncle Art and the other rich suckers paying to support their thriving lifestyle of 24/7 party, party, party, but, somehow, I doubt it. I don't see a lot of people begging to get on welfare and move into those projects. In fact I've never met a single person who has that dream, but when all you understand is theory and you live in a bubble of wealth and privilege, maybe it's just that damned hard to see what living off a government handout really means.
See that's the part that's always missing from the analysis of "very smart people" like Uncle Arthur. They can't picture anyone wanting to pay taxes because they will never need any help from the government. They can afford whatever they want. They can own a house or even two. They can afford elevators for their cars and dancing horses and pretty much anything else their little hearts desire and it galls them that they have to pay taxes at all. Art would probably see a huge tax cut under Mitt's plan, but he leaves that out of his analysis. No disclaimers, just more claptrap about broadening the tax base and giving money to rich folks who will go out and magically hire a lot of people even if they don't have the demand to require it. They'll just churn out more stuff for sale and let it sit on the shelves or cause the price of their products to drop dramatically when supply goes through the roof. I mean what business isn't looking to jack up their stock and drive down the price on the things they sell, amirite?
The whole video sounds so serious, but the one part you have to remember is the title. Maybe next time instead of playing music in the background, Uncle Art, you should add a laugh track. At least it would make sense then...