Coal Miners

How quaint. You still believe in Trickle Down Claus!

Actually I didn't before for years. Then I realized the Laffer curve was basic simple math. Which means I'm capable of changing my dogma when confronted with facts.

Useful skill.

The Laffer scheme ignores the influence of human nature. Keynes understood that humans will always default to their basic values and behaviors. People who invest in job creation have a generally shared behavior. They do not invest their own money. So, if you give them a tax cut, there is no guarantee it will result in investments that create jobs. Give them access to credit, and they will. Read what Ben Bernanke has written on this subject. And, Many people who make enough money to get tax cuts are professionals who don't otherwise employ many people.

The Kemp Tax Cuts, in the Reagan years, were offset by government borrowing, which kept the amount of money in the economy stable. Otherwise, there would have been a downturn. Laffer suggests that an investment equal to a tax cut will result in growth. That has not happened, to date. Keynes guaranteed it by taxing at a higher rate initially, but cutting the rate at an amount equal to the level of investment. And, we had the economic growth of the 1950s which was spread across the economy, to prove it. You are right, the math is simple.

What is remarkable about Laffer is that people still believe it, simply because they want to, not becayuse the results are there.

You can dance around it all you want, but the hard empirics remain. Tax people at 0%: 0 revenue. Tax people at 100%: 0 revenue. Curve in the intermediate. You can argue it shifts under influences - but it still remains. Even Keynesians will, when you hold it in front of them, allow the basic math.

Tal;k about dancing all you want. Laffer has never worked outside the tilted classroom, and Keynes did, for decades. Thanks for the dance, professor.

The laws of mathematics are stubborn things. The pleasure has been mine.

You came here. I did not come to you.

Giving trillions to billionaires? Good grief, why should anyone believe what you're shoveling when you can't even do math!

Well, I guess I was misinformed. How much does the tax cut give them over ten years? Hundreds?

Either way, Trump lied when he promised them during rallies that coal was going to do well under his administration. He knew, or should have, that Natural Gas was cheap and that coal plants no longer made sense, for business reasons. He lied for votes and did not deliver. Get used to it. He promises the impossible, because people are starving for good news and will follow anyone who tells them they are good and the world, except him, are out to get them. It is the same crap Bernie is selling.