2 times correct on a broken clock

9/20/2011 11:43:43 PM

I believe in the concept of the Laffer curve but I don't know what it's real shape is. For all we know it is constantly changing as the economy evolved.

9/21/2011 2:44:25 PM

Not only that, but it becomes much more complicated when you consider that there are many types of taxes and fees that the government levies, not all of which are based on income, and the income-based taxes tend to be progressive rather than flat (at a constant rate).

The Laffer curve is a useful simplification with its sole purpose to warn that high taxes can be counterproductive for revenue, even though there are other reasons for keeping taxes well below the level of counterproductivity.

9/21/2011 7:03:18 PM

I just saw Laffer's napkin illustration and found that he actually had the right idea (it wasn't his original idea, as even he acknowledged), but the shape of the illustration gave many a simple-minded Rethug the wrong idea, and the oversimplified (omg partial derivatives are scary) right-wing reproductions of the illustration led people who knew how the marginal effect of taxation really worked to dismiss Laffer himself: http://i.imgur.com/hZN8wMT.jpg

[Edited on April 10, 2014 at 4:03 PM. Reason : CrazyCode doesn't do a good job of parsing emoticons near parentheses.

4/10/2014 3:59:45 PM

Looks like NC's tax cuts for the rich aren't doing what the GOP promised:

http://www.wral.com/tax-changes-could-jeopardize-teacher-raises/13554800/

4/10/2014 6:59:32 PM

^^ it also doesn't do a good job of making you sound any less stupid when you say "rethug". Seriously, you sound like Sarah Palin.

4/10/2014 10:18:35 PM