Two Santa Clauses or How The Republican Party Has Conned America for Thirty Years. This weekend, House Republican leader John Boehner played out the role of Jude Wanniski on NBC's "Meet The Press.
" Odds are you've never heard of Jude, but without him Reagan never would have become a "successful" president, Republicans never would have taken control of the House or Senate, Bill Clinton never would have been impeached, and neither George Bush would have been president. When Barry Goldwater went down to ignominious defeat in 1964, most Republicans felt doomed (among them the then-28-year-old Wanniski). Goldwater himself, although uncomfortable with the rising religious right within his own party and the calls for more intrusion in people's bedrooms, was a diehard fan of Herbert Hoover's economic worldview. Tax Cuts For The Rich Do Not Spur Economic Growth: Study.
There is no clear correlation between tax cuts for high earners and economic growth, according to a new study by Congress' nonpartisan policy analyst.
"There is not conclusive evidence, however, to substantiate a clear relationship between the 65-year steady reduction in the top tax rates and economic growth," concluded a report by the Congressional Research Service released Friday. "Analysis of such data suggests the reduction in the top tax rates have had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth. " The findings are pertinent to a central debate in the presidential election, wherein President Obama is pushing to end the Bush-era tax cuts on high incomes, while his Republican challenger Mitt Romney insists on cutting rates across the board 20 percent below current policy. Democrats contrast the tax hikes of the 1990s and ensuing economic growth with the tax cuts of the 2000s and relatively meager gains that followed.
Graphics8.nytimes.com/news/business/0915taxesandeconomy.pdf.