Monthly Archives: January 2018

Archive of posts published in the specified Month

Tax Cut Fallacies

from John Cochrane
“The larger economic point: In the end, investment in the whole economy has nothing to do with the financial decisions of individual companies. Investment will increase if the marginal, after-tax, return to investment increases. Lowering the corporate tax rate operates on that marginal incentive to new investments. It does not operate by “giving companies cash” which they may use, individually, to buy new forklifts, or to send to investors. Thinking about the cash, and not the marginal incentive, is a central mistake. (It’s a mistake endemic to Keynesian economics, but the case here is supply-side, incentive oriented.)”

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It’s the Productivity, Stupid

Critics of the tax cuts do not trust the corporations to spend their cuts wisely.  This is the tragic flaw of progressivism.  We are supposed to trust the infinite wisdom and political interests of the state to spend our money, but always suspect the same money in private hands.

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Andrew Jackson and the Modern Presidency    

Historians can debate if Jackson moved us further away from the vision of the Constitution and its framers, as so many of his critics contended, or was a step in the evolution or the practical clarification of the vision to address the issues of his day.   There is much less agreement that his term was one of the most pivotal in the direction of our history.

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Growth Elements are Now in Place

Deficits do matter, but like the stimulus it also matters how they are spent.  Stimulating demand is less effective than stimulating investment.  Demand stimulus is only effective briefly under certain conditions. Stimulating investment pays dividends (pun intended) much longer.

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The Trickle-Down Calumny

‘Trickle down’ is meaningless and ignorant and does not withstand minimal scrutiny. It hides the greater issues of the size, scope, and expense of government; and whether consumers and investors can allocate resources better than bureaucrats.

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Some Thoughts on 2017

“History does repeat itself, but the soundtrack is different, and the sequel is usually disappointing”. – HO

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The Natural Bias of History

“We must remind ourselves again that history as usually written (peccavimus) is quite different from history as usually lived: the historian records the exceptional because it is interesting—because it is exceptional. “

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