RSS Feed MenuBruce Bartlett was one of the staff authors of the Kemp-Roth tax cut. Now he’s urging a new value-added tax in his important new book, The New American Economy. About-face? Not at all! Supplyside economics was a response to the stagflation of the 1970s. New problems in the 2010s call for new solutions. And we honor the supply-siders achievement best by emulating their concern for the crisis of our times.
My review of The New American Economy is the latest entry in David’s Bookshelf.
satkinsn // Dec 14, 2009 at 7:27 pm
This is a seriously smart book. Thanks for recommending it – it taught me a lot about how to think about the problems we’re facing.
mthen // Dec 14, 2009 at 9:03 pm
And Frum finally comes out as a full blown supporter of Keynes. You can almost hear the stampede of people trying to line up to follow you to your New Majority. Pro-Keynes, Pro-VAT, Pro-War, Anti-immigrant. Whats not to love!?!
satkinsn // Dec 15, 2009 at 7:45 am
Did you actually read the book?
s.
llbroo49 // Dec 15, 2009 at 12:23 pm
First, I have not read the book. However, it has always been a little disingenious for those that claim during great economic times- “we need tax breaks” and during desperate economic times cry “we need tax breaks”. It has worked for so long because it has played to our base instincts – “if it’s free (or cheap) , it’s for me”.
It reminds me early in my marriage, when I was struggling to pay the bills and my wife offered to handle the finances. To my surprise the money appeared to be going further, we always had access to cash, and could even go out to eat once in a while. I thought she was a miralce worker. Any doubts I had, I suppressed- I mean she just boought me a pair of shoes. Well, as you probably surmised, our new found lifestye was not due to better budgeting or financial skill, but because she would make LESS than the minimum payments on our debts. I should have known better- but I chose willful ignorance.
satkinsn // Dec 15, 2009 at 1:32 pm
The book is an attempt to capture the intellectual spirit of the supply siders (and the Keynesians) and how they developed novel solutions to the economic problems of the day.
It is not a *give us more tax breaks/tax breaks cure everything* book. It’s a lot more subtle than that.
s.
theCardinal // Dec 17, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I commented further on the Book Club but it does not behoove fellow conservatives and Republicans to read the book. First, despite its brevity it’s decent recap of the supply side revolution with actual numbers unlike the bombastic “End of Prosperity” by Moore/Laffer/Tanous. Second, it compares the supply-side cuts with today’s emphasis on grab-bag of credits and cuts. This book will make you question the conservative orthodoxy of tax cutting but what is wrong with that? What is wrong with being challenged? I still feel that Bartlett falls short in certain respects but by reading the book I have a better feel for the challenges we face, have strengthened some of my arguments and have had to concede that yes, I am in fact wrong on others. Hooray to Frum and Bartlett – I may not agree all the time but right now the conservative movement needs to examine itself not resort to a knee-jerk populism of the heart.
CO Independent // Dec 18, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Properly understood, supply side economics is ALWAYS the right policy. Implementing supply side economics spurred massive real economic growth in the 1980s. It worked during the Reagan era and it will work now. Low tax rates coupled to a broad tax base with few exemptions and reduced regulation generates an environment which attracts capital and jobs. This applies to both corporate tax rates and individual tax rates.
We began backing away from supply side economics under Bush 41, gradually increasing rates and carving out exceptions, both on individual and corporate taxes. Our treatment of capital gains has been particularly pernicious, permitting corporate executives, investment bankers, and private equity firms to take large portions of their compensation in stock grants which are taxed as capital gains, even though no capital has been put at risk. Its an outrage. My friends in private equity firms routinely mock the stupidity of our government’s capital gains tax policy, laughing all the way to the bank.
Here in Colorado our newly-blue legislature enacted tax and fee hikes and imposed huge new regulatory uncertainty on the oil and gas exploration industry which had exploded on the Western Slope. In response they shut down their rigs, packed them up, and left for greener pastures. As a result, we’ve lost thousands and thousands of high-paying skilled and semi-skilled jobs. Meanwhile, our dumba** Governor holds press conferences to announce the addition of 30, yes 30, new jobs at a renewable energy plant. It’s a tragic joke.
The only think Keynesian economics yields is an ever-growing State which sinks deeper and deeper into debt.