Given how often his nonsense is disproved it’s surprising that Prof Laffer lifts his head above the parapet. Hard to believe that the money traders who stuffed the Truss fiasco are Guardian-reading woke subversives
This reminds me of a programme on R4 over the weekend about forecasting & predictions. The guy who was 100% wrong about the financial crisis is now Trump’s top economic advisor & regular guest on TV etc Seems if you just keep peddling a message folk want to believe it doesn’t matter if it’s true!
I do think the chasm in pay between executives and shop-floor has a much underestimated impact in this case.
When you create such stark disparity between employees and bosses, the inclination of one group to see another as competition rather than colleagues.
My grandfather owned a relatively large agribusiness in the Netherlands and lived a good but by no means opulent life. After the OPEC shock, for a few years, he and many other higher earners paid an extraordinary percentage in tax on earnings.
The understanding was that this was necessary to stimulate growth, to reinvest in workforce and make the business resilient.
He never complained about it, never referred to it as anything but a difficult period for the country and the industry - it was what you were expected to do.
They also pay a lot more income tax in normal times and you can feel it on the ground when you’re there.
Things work and there is a social security system that works as part of society rather than being depicted as parasitical of it.
Over there too, we see the political centre and far-right parties playing the old games of othering to exploit the gullible. The system is just about holding, but if the Dutch lose what they’ve got used to, they won’t put up without a fight.
Given how often his nonsense is disproved it’s surprising that Prof Laffer lifts his head above the parapet. Hard to believe that the money traders who stuffed the Truss fiasco are Guardian-reading woke subversives
This reminds me of a programme on R4 over the weekend about forecasting & predictions. The guy who was 100% wrong about the financial crisis is now Trump’s top economic advisor & regular guest on TV etc Seems if you just keep peddling a message folk want to believe it doesn’t matter if it’s true!
Post-truth wasn’t a derogatory term in their world. It was the aim.
I do think the chasm in pay between executives and shop-floor has a much underestimated impact in this case.
When you create such stark disparity between employees and bosses, the inclination of one group to see another as competition rather than colleagues.
My grandfather owned a relatively large agribusiness in the Netherlands and lived a good but by no means opulent life. After the OPEC shock, for a few years, he and many other higher earners paid an extraordinary percentage in tax on earnings.
The understanding was that this was necessary to stimulate growth, to reinvest in workforce and make the business resilient.
He never complained about it, never referred to it as anything but a difficult period for the country and the industry - it was what you were expected to do.
They also pay a lot more income tax in normal times and you can feel it on the ground when you’re there.
Things work and there is a social security system that works as part of society rather than being depicted as parasitical of it.
Over there too, we see the political centre and far-right parties playing the old games of othering to exploit the gullible. The system is just about holding, but if the Dutch lose what they’ve got used to, they won’t put up without a fight.
"...that growth will be destroyed, we will be destitute."
Wrong tense, surely. And just a little of the gaslighting tendency.
Growth has already been destroyed, and people are already destitute.