Arthur Laffer quotes JFK

As quoted in the Wall Steet Journal's Notable & Quotable, Arthur Laffer (of Laffer Curve fame) speaking last month to graduates of Mercer University:

Pursuing your dream of prospering will benefit everyone . . . When I graduated from Yale University, we had a serious commencement speaker not like the one you are stuck with today. The commencement speaker was President John F. Kennedy. And the point I'm making today is the same point he made all those years ago. He said, "No American is ever made better off by pulling a fellow American down, and all of us are made better off whenever any one of us is made better off." He concluded by using the analogy that "a rising tide raises all boats."
Never forget or be ashamed of the fact that pursuing your own self interest furthers everyone's interest. Without you, the poor would be poorer.

The Laffer Curve Part II - Reviewing the Evidence

Dan Mitchell, Senior Fellow at The Cato Institute, has posted Part II of The Center for Economic Prosperity's three-part series on The Laffer Curve on You Tube.

Before you hit the back button since you probably think this is just some boring economics stuff, please wait! Yes, I'm sure you need all you need to know about economics - "it's all about supply and demand". Yeah, sure. Well, there is much more, and if you want to learn one more important lesson about economics, it would be The Laffer Curve - more specifically the economics of tax rates and how they affect tax revenues.

H/T: Larry Kudlow.

If that's not quite your cup of tea (and you're ready for a chuckle), try this video with Arthur Laffer and Merle Hazard...

Stimulus Schmimulus

Who better than Arthur Laffer (of Laffer Curve fame) to explain the worthlessness of the tax rebate stimulus package that Congress and the Bush Administration cooked up to "cure" what supposedly ails our economy. Well, Mr. Laffer goes in to great detail on tomorrows Wall Street Journal editorial page explaining why the net effect of the tax rebates will be - zero.

The FDC has potificated on this subject before here and here. And as with the last post on the congressional ethanol mandates, the tax rebate stimulus package is more about politics than practicality.

The Tax Threat to Prosperity

Writing today in the Wall Street Journal, Arthur Laffer has written an excellent explanation of American tax policy history, and the differing effects of tax rate cuts on high and low income earners. This analysis should not be surprising coming from the architect of the famed Laffer Curve. Rich Lowry agrees, here.

The FDC concurs with Mr. Laffer, but would like to add that if you continue the trends that he points out we will eventually have a country where many people won't be able to brag, "I'm a tax-paying American citizen and yada, yada, yada." Why? Because if current trends continue, more and more people will NOT pay income taxes. You say, "I'm not rich. Fine with me. Let them pay. They can afford it." Eventually, when the number of taxpayers who don't pay any income taxes, reaches over 50%, then the lower 50% of income earners controls the whole game - with their votes. Next, the folks that are make barely more than the top earning no tax payers also vote for whoever or whatever will get them into this tax skate club, and so on, and so on, and so on. Pretty soon the rich are paying all the taxes. Then, Atlas shrugs, and the whole house of cards collapses. Back to the drawing board.