Jude Wanniski

[Cyrus]

Al Jazeera obituary :

Jude Wanniski, a journalist and economist whose advocacy of huge tax cuts as an economic stimulus was embraced by former President Ronald Reagan, has died on the 1st of September 2005.


The cause of 69-year-old's death was a heart attack on Monday, according to a statement by his consulting firm, Polyconomics of Parsippany.

Wanniski coined the phrase "supply-side economics", referring to a theory that cutting personal income tax rates would lead to increased investment and create economic growth.

A former editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal, Wanniski and several other conservative thinkers pushed their theory in the face of other conservatives' strong resistance to deficit spending.

Wanniski advised several Republican political candidates. He was asked to resign from the Journal in 1978 after a supervisor saw him at a train station passing out fliers for a Republican US Senate candidate.


He wrote the book The Way the World Works that same year, and it became a favourite of some economic conservatives for its condemnation of taxes.

The National Review cited the book as one of the 100 most influential of the 20th century.

Wanniski briefly advised Reagan's presidential campaign and later served in a similar capacity for the presidential bids of Bob Dole and Steve Forbes.

In 1981, with Ronald Reagan as president, Congress went on to pass the one of the largest-ever cuts in taxes on income and capital gains.

He had been a regular contributor to Aljazeera.net’s opinion section. Wanniski stood against the Iraq war and had argued that the perceived threat from Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction" was exaggerated.

Wanniski was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 1936. He is survived by his wife, three children, his mother; a sister, a brother and a granddaughter.

[MtSmalls]

If only he'd taken his supply side economics garbage with him.

RIP.

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank God he didnt take his supply side economics brilliance with him.

RIP.

[/ QUOTE ]


FYP

[Abednego]

One small consideration ...... cutting taxes proved to increase REVENUES ..... history ....... he was correct and it is indisputable.

[MtSmalls]

Is that why Reagan (the supply side GOD) and Bush I both RAISED taxes during their adminstrations??

Is that why, with TWO massive tax cuts by this adminstration, we have the weakest post- recession recovery since the Great Depression??

[vulturesrow]

Bush I wasnt a supply sider first off. And the notion that is a weak post recession recovery is bunk.

[Abednego]

Uh ...... not exactly. Reagan cut taxes and increased revenues. Can't deny Bush raised taxes and it cost him. We have a recovery precisely because of this administration's tax cuts. Again ..... historically it is indisputable.....cutting taxes stimulates the economy, creates job growth and over time broadens the tax base increasing revenues ...... the way to prosperity is through the type of growth that comes from tax cuts. This is not difficult to either verify or understand. Now I will readily admit that we could still get deficits if spending increases more than revenue growth but that is a different matter. Tax cuts increase revenues.

[MtSmalls]

From a source you would respect, The NRO: LINK

[ QUOTE ]
The only problem with this analysis is that it is historically inaccurate. Reagan may have resisted calls for tax increases, but he ultimately supported them. In 1982 alone, he signed into law not one but two major tax increases. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) raised taxes by $37.5 billion per year and the Highway Revenue Act raised the gasoline tax by another $3.3 billion.

According to a recent Treasury Department study, TEFRA alone raised taxes by almost 1 percent of the gross domestic product, making it the largest peacetime tax increase in American history. An increase of similar magnitude today would raise more than $100 billion per year.

In 1983, Reagan signed legislation raising the Social Security tax rate. This is a tax increase that lives with us still, since it initiated automatic increases in the taxable wage base. As a consequence, those with moderately high earnings see their payroll taxes rise every single year.

In 1984, Reagan signed another big tax increase in the Deficit Reduction Act. This raised taxes by $18 billion per year or 0.4 percent of GDP. A similar-sized tax increase today would be about $44 billion.

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 raised taxes yet again. Even the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which was designed to be revenue-neutral, contained a net tax increase in its first 2 years. And the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 raised taxes still more.

The year 1988 appears to be the only year of the Reagan presidency, other than the first, in which taxes were not raised legislatively. Of course, previous tax increases remained in effect. According to a table in the 1990 budget, the net effect of all these tax increases was to raise taxes by $164 billion in 1992, or 2.6 percent of GDP. This is equivalent to almost $300 billion in today's economy.



[/ QUOTE ]

[vulturesrow]

King of Persia,

Was wondering what the point of this post was ?

[Abednego]

It would be nice if it provoked some thought among the dunderheads that frequent the forum .... could even make some converts from some of the 20 something know it alls if they read so much as a single review of the book that is linked in th OP