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01/28/2003 Archived Entry: "Speech"

AXIS OF SPENDING: I'm hearing a lot of spending from Dubya right now...and tax cuts. Didn't he learn from the example of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s?

Replies: 2 comments

Of course the Reagan/Bush/Clinton deficits brought us a precipitous drop in interest rates and a booming economy. But then when Bush and Clinton had cranked taxes uup high enough that we started running a surplus, rather than the promised falls in interest rates we got increases and a recession and eventuallt deficits again. At which point rates came down again. If economists were scientists the evidence would suggest that the deficits had nothing to do with rates other than affecting the psychology of the Fed.

Posted by oj @ 01/29/2003 01:24 PM EST

Apparently not, Steve. As the Reagan experience proved, the only way to keep taxes down in the long run is to keep government spending - and the deficit - under control. With two major parties opposed to spending cuts and only one major party opposed to tax increases, you can bet what is going to happen when the public gets around to wanting a balanced budget again.

Posted by W. James Antle III @ 01/29/2003 12:05 AM EST