Four GOP Phonies: Fraud on the Right

Four Phonies Update

There were some technical problems with my earlier post on GOP deficit
phoniness, although not in any way that changes the message. So,
here's an update. I use the intermediate-cost estimate from CRFB (pdf)
for the four Republican plans, and for consistency, I use CRFB's own
estimate (pdf) for Obama. And here's what we get:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/four-phonies-update/

So it remains true that all of the proposals, except maybe Ron Paul's
(which contains huge and probably impossible spending cuts) would lead
to higher deficits than Obama, based on a common assessment.

I see, however, that some commenters are declaring that it's all OK
because of the voodoo "dynamic" effects of tax cuts for the wealthy. I
guess my question is, what on earth would make anyone believe in that
old nonsense at this point?

I mean, we've had two fairly clear-cut tests in recent decades: the
Clinton tax hike, which all the usual suspects said would produce
disaster, and the Bush cuts, which would supposedly produce a
wonderful boom. How did those turn out?

Also, the Romers have some careful new research looking at older data
— the drastic tax swings of the interwar years — and find only small
effects.

So let me rephrase my question: what conceivable evidence would
convince people that supply-side magic doesn't work?

And meanwhile, the whole deficit hawkery of the right continues to be
revealed as a fraud.

Graph and more here:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/four-phonies-update/

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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
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