Maybe Ryan Really IS Through The Looking Glass

April 16th, 2011

In economics there is the theoretical future and the provable past. It's generally wise to base proposals for that future on what we have learned so far. Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) Path To Poverty is most striking in it's devotion to philosophies that we know to be destructive and ineffectual. Take a look at the cost-benefit analysis across a variety of forms of deficit spending. Make no mistake, the tax cuts called for in the "Path" are deficit spending.

The Ryan plan seems to take these facts and literally flip them. Every proposal he describes as most stimulative has been proven to be the least likely to spur growth. Everything he has targeted for elimination has the greatest immediate benefit to the economy. The problem for Ryan is that he just doesn't like these facts. As Tim Tankersley and Katie O'Donnel of the National Journal observed, the Ryan Plan is predicated on a faith in "bedrock principles of supply-side economics."

Which is how we got here in the first place.

The Top 1%

March 22nd, 2011

The devotion to tax cuts as a recipe for job growth is universally endorsed by the American conservative movement. This is increasingly hard to fathom. During the last decade, the most dramatic conversion of this theory into actual policy was undertaken. We must face the fact that the results of this experiment have not only failed to maintain balanced economic expansion relative to population, they have actually crippled it. The resulting collapse in revenue has put our country's credit rating at risk. If we do not eliminate a vast majority of corporate tax loopholes and raise the top marginal personal rate by at least 3 to 4 percentage points, the dream of America is very likely lost. Even the architects of trickle down theory are declaring this continued article of faith to be a disaster. I stipulate that furtherance of these tax codes is closer to insanity. Late last year, the following graphic was published by Jay Kimball. Let us revisit it, shall we? The vast American middle class could never have been created in the first place had this monetary system been in place from the 30s through the 70s.