Posted on 08/06/2012 5:07:30 AM PDT by bt_dooftlook
In country after country, increased government spending acted more like a depressant than a stimulant. - Policy makers in Washington and other capitals around the world are debating whether to implement another round of stimulus spending to combat high unemployment and sputtering growth rates. But before they leap, they should take a good hard look at how that worked the first time around.
It worked miserably, as indicated by the table nearby, which shows increases in government spending from 2007 to 2009 and subsequent changes in GDP growth rates. Of the 34 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, those with the largest spending spurts from 2007 to 2009 saw the least growth in GDP rates before and after the stimulus. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Please remove - duplicate post
This is one of those posts that should be duplicated until everyone has seen it.
Dr. Laffer has this disturbing, nagging problem of being not just right, but EXTREMELY right.
Yet, for their part, the Keynesians are so determined to do the opposite of his advice that I wish he would tell them to *not* repeatedly hit themselves in the forehead with a claw hammer, lest they hurt themselves.
Some of them would be unconscious on the floor, others after having woken up would be bashing themselves on the forehead again, still others would be unclear on the idea and bashing other body parts, and the rest, suffering grievous injuries would be like the Monty Python “black knight”, rejecting any notion that they were harmed in any way, and in fact, were getting the best results possible by bashing themselves in the forehead.
I suppose it’s not so bad if they do these things to themselves, but they shouldn’t be allowed to keep bashing the economy on its forehead with a claw hammer.
The Left will remain unconvinced, contending that each confiscated-and-spent tax dollar would either have languished unspent or wasted misspent. They have no comprehension money held by the “rich” does in fact get spent, thinking instead it sits in a vault, and feel superior that _they_ know where every dollar _should_ be spent, clueless as to why it is not in fact spent there unmolested.
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