will we see the lies?

We are vulnerable. We’re sold lies.

For three decades we have conducted a massive economic experiment, testing a theory known as supply-side economics.

The theory goes like this: Lower tax rates will encourage more investment, which in turn will mean more jobs and greater prosperity—so much so that tax revenues will go up, despite lower rates.

1) You would think that whether this grand experiment worked would be settled after three decades.

2) You would think the practitioners of the dismal science of economics would look at their demand curves and the data on incomes and taxes and pronounce a verdict.

3) Tax policy is something the framers left to politics.

And in politics, the facts often matter less than who has the biggest bullhorn.

4) The Mad Men who once ran campaigns featuring doctors extolling the health benefits of smoking are now busy marketing the dogma that tax cuts mean broad prosperity, no matter what the facts show.

5) As millions of Americans prepare to file their annual taxes, they do so in an environment of media-perpetuated tax myths.

This is what is true: The top pay less, so you can get their trickle-down.

HA! Ordinary folk pay more, the rich pay much less, and yet despite all the alleged increased trickle-down we’re still mired in the deepest economic downturn in decades.

Posted April 14th, 2011 in economy.
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