[Publius]

Ah, Arthur Laffer. That's a name I haven't heard for a few years. I remembered how he eviscerated Mitch Rogovin during a debate on PBS in 1980 when the staffs of the presidential campaigns went at it, rather than the candidates themselves. It was a lot more educational than the staged appearances known as "presidential debates".

I almost met Dr. Laffer.

When I worked in LA during the mid-Nineties, I spotted the investor relations VP of my company in the fine Italian seafood restaurant across the street talking with someone who was a ringer for Art Laffer. After lunch I dropped in at the VP's office.

ME: Was that Arthur Laffer with you across the street?

VP: Yeah. You should have come over and introduced yourself. Art's pretty approachable. He was my economics prof at USC.

ME: I remember how he ripped Mitchell Rogovin a new one in 1980 on TV.

VP: Art would have liked someone remembering that. We were finishing a debate we'd started last night at Chris Cox's house.

ME: You know Christopher Cox?!

VP: Yeah, I've known him for years. Dan Quayle was in town, and Chris threw a dinner party for him. I hadn't talked to Dan in years, and then I ran into Art.

ME: You know Dan Quayle?!

Needless to say, I was blown away.

[Myrddin]

I'm in the middle of a conference call with one of Art Laffer's best friends right now. My co-worker went to school with Laffer. He has a PhD in mathematics and does the digital signal processing work for my current project.