The Flinchum File

Thoughtful Economic Analysis and Existential Opinions
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Tax Cut Deal

Yesterday, the Senate took the first step in creating certainty about our tax burden next year. A believer in Supply-Side economics will be delighted because there are tax cuts. A believer in Keynesian economics will be relieved we didn’t increase taxes during a recession. A believer in Austrian economics will be horrified that we made the deficit crisis worse.

I don’t recall who said this but I’ve never forgotten the idea that “all great thinkers are mere followers of some dead economist.” (Of course, the creator of supply-side economics, Arthur Laffer, is still very much alive.)

Putting aside all the pretty theories, the reality is that there will be a day within the next few years when the market will no longer buy U.S. bonds, unless the rate is very high and maybe not even then. We can argue the fine points of many economic theories, in addition to the Big Three. But, the bond vigilantes are not economists.