Why do supply side cons question the intelligence of the American people?

Question

with their tax cuts for the rich work lie?

They'll point to stats showing that the economy grew as "proof" that tax cuts for the rich work, without mentioning the fact that the economy has grown under every president since atleast FDR.

HERE'S WHAT I DID:
I got the real GDP stats from the Bureau of Economic Analyses. I took the percent increase over 4 year intervals. I then ranked them from best to worst. Out of (((18))) 4 year intervals, the supply siders Reagan and Bush Jr ranked 13th, 15th, and 16th.

1 FDR (44') 74.69%
2 FDR (36') 34.62%
3 LBJ (68') 21.81%
4 TRUMAN (52') 21.00%
5 JFK (64') 19.86%
6 FDR (40') 19.32%
7 CARTER (80') 13.67%
8 IKE(56') 13.45%
9 NIXON (72') 12.38%
10 IKE (60') 10.91%
11 FORD (76') 10.62%
12 CLINTON (00') 17.87%
13 REAGAN (88') 15.98%
14 CLINTON (96') 13.53%
15 REAGAN (84') 12.63%
16 BUSH JR (04') 9.03%
17 BUSH SR (92') 8.81%
18 TRUMAN (48') -9.04%

http://www.bea.gov/national/xls/gdplev.xls

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PRE-EMPTIVE COUNTER-ARGUMENTS:

1) Eisenhower was no supply sider. He kept FDR's New Deal policies and if you read some of his speeches, he was a moderate liberal.

2) There was no JFK tax cut. He was killed in 63'. The JFK/LBJ tax cut of 1964 cut tax rates but also closed tax loopholes resulting in a net increase in tax revenues. That's not a real tax cut. JFK and LBJ were known for their "New Frontier" and "Great Society" social programs, not tax cuts. Reagan's and Bush Jr's tax cuts on the other hand were HUGE and resulted in immediate drops in tax revenue. Plot tax revenues versus year from this historical U.S. budget website to see for yourself.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/hist.html

3) The U.S. didn't get involved in WWII until December 1941. The percent increase in real GDP from 1932 to 1941 is 88.15%. That is tremendous growth. No other president comes close to that kind of growth over the same time span.

4) There is no reason why FDR shouldn't get credit for war spending after 1941 stimulating the economy considering the fact that Republicans think Reagan should take credit for the effects all the deficit spending on defense had on the economy.

????,

Oops. This will require a repost.

Answer 1

Because your suckers!... hahaha!

Answer 2

I don't question the intelligence of the American people. I question yours. The chart you refer indexes inflation. It doesn't show any impact whatsoever that tax cuts had effect on GDP, nor was it meant to.

GDP increased each year under Roosevelt because Roosevelt practiced deficit spending policies. Under Roosevelt, federal government grew to a behemoth and became the nation's largest employer as Roosevelt used Keynesian economic policies by releasing government money into a heavily depressed American economy.

Reagan did the same. And so did Clinton and so also did both Bushes. However, during the Carter and Reagan years, the Fed also instituted banking initiatives that in turn produced pressure and introduced cost to easy money policies by adjusting rates accordingly, just like the Federal Reserve does today.

If you want to compare tax cuts to economic performance you need to go MUCH FARTHER. Showing us the one spreadsheet only shows how inflation impacts the numbers, because you do not adjust for inflation and currency fluctuations and how these impact the "growth" in the numbers. Your argument is made of straw, and you do not reference at all unemployment rates, trade, expansion overseas, access to capital and the rise in American living standards, and most important of all, REVENUES collected by the United States Government.

Tax cuts work, and they always will. It is giving money back to corporations and results in a temporary loss in revenue the first year until employers can turn a profit and surrender MORE DOLLARS, not less, to be taxed at federal and state levels.

It is nice you seem to be taking an economics class. I encourage you to finish the class and stay in school. Do as your Econ instructor tells you to and begin to read the Wall Street Journal. You will learn a lot and hopefully see the light.

Right now you are foolishly questioning our intelligence because you do not even know what stats to use.

Answer 3

Because so many of the American people keep voting for Democrats?

Sorry, levity asside, economic policy is not something that has all it's effects in a neat 4-year packages. Neither is it something the president really has all that much influence upon.

It can take years, even decades, for the full consequences of an economic policy to become evident. The Keynesian policies initiated in the 30's, for instance, brought on the hyperinflation and economic malaise of the 70s, and still hold the lovely promise of insolvent Social Security and Medicare programs.

Where you start also makes a difference, 'FDR's economy' started at the depth of the great depression, the fantastic growth rate was just the result of the country digging itself out of the whole the stock market crash left it in. Simlarly, as the US moved to a post-industrial economy in the 80's and 90's growth potential slowed - the economy is just /huge/, and the nation already heavily developed, there just isn't the same upside you have in a place like China that has barely begun real economic development.

Answer 4

Ah my wise son. First, your argument is irreperably flawed from you first sentence. As Reagan was the ONLY one to apply "Supply Side Economics" the rest of your argument is moot. But I'll play anyway.
Your assesment of FDR 1932 to 1941 is correct. Did you also take into account his 20% unemployment rate? That 62% of the country lived below the Poverty Rate Pre-1941?
That all this "Growth" you speak of was backed by "Make Work" programs, which served no long term gain, pre-WW 2?
That a "Permanent Welfare State" was Created?
That 8 months after Johnson, in 1969 they had their own "Dot Com" bubble burst with Aero Space, and it took the DOW until 1985 to reach prior levels under Reagan.
That Reagan inherited the worst worst economy sine the Depression, do you Remember getting gas on odd/even days? Or a Prime Rate of 17%? Home Mortgages at 20%
In you past examples did you figure in that we now are in a world economy, not an isolationist one.
I will let up now, but just one more tidbit, that we control growth now thru the Federal Reserve with interest rates so not to get the rampant inflation as many of your earlier heros allowed to happen?
That there were and always have been a greater divide between the rich and poor during hyper growth periods?
Finally, "Supply Side" that lowering tax the wealthy would increase tax revenues, which it did. Tax revenues grew dramatically under Reagan.
You Kennedy "Fact". Wrong. he decreased the top marginal rate from 70% to under 50% and check what he did for Capital Gains.
So good luck with your Term Paper, perhaps a review of ALL the Ramifications would be in order. And instead of using a website for your reaearch, try IRS TAX FACTS, Social Security Administation and the like.
Funny, in a speach given by Bill Clinton, on Social Security, he credits Reagan as the first President to bring the Retired and Senior Citizen community above the Poverty Level in Standard of Living and in with the Middle Class. Check Clinton's Webite for that.

Trovolta, all of us that answered your question realize your in an Economics class. And you shoud be commended. I thought similar to you until I began researching real impact and real numbers. Stay in school and expand your research, you sound like a bright guy. Sorry we were rough on you...

Adnessa..It would appear we did state the solution. Yours was the answer with name calling yet no solution or research......

Answer 5

It's because Cons all use the same responses to questions they can't answer. Fox News feeds them these responses that aren't meant to anything to mis-direct the original question. You'll notice all the Cons will say things like, "Well, Clinton said this...." which we all know is irrelevant when discussing the current administration. They all say that Mars is heating up too, therefore global warming is a hoax. Even though Mars' atmosphere is made up of different gas and is extremely this in comparison to our planet. These arguments aren't meant for response, they merely designed to deflect legitimate questions.

What angers me is that this isn't a game. We are talking about real issues and people are only trying to keep a political score card of which member of which party did something wrong. It's ridiculous. Bush has made so many mistakes and knowingly done a lot of bad things to this country and the world. Yet, cons will say that Clinton got a bj. Great. I'm sure all the people suffering in this world will be reassured to know that Bush got even with Clinton.

It's about time we stop keeping score and go after the problems, and not justify the problems based on other peoples mistakes......something the right has made an art out of....

Answer 6

My God, there are no limits to the contortions you Libs will go through, just so you won't have to admit the the so called Bush tax cut for the rich worked. Unemployment is down to record levels, inflation is in check, the market is up, the governement is collecting record levels in taxes, the projected deficit has shrunk to 1/4 from what was predicted. According to the Dems all this is a sure signs of a collapsing economy and gloom and doom in the near future, unless they raise taxes through the roof to save the people from their own stupidity.

Answer 7

That is "much ado about naught".
People that work for a living know better. You can't fool us.
We feed our familes on our paychecks. Cut Taxes and we have more take-home-pay.
We working people were blessed with Tax Cuts from JFK, Reagan, and Bush.
Lies will never change it.

Answer 8

Those tax cuts didn't cover the rise of inflation. The dollar has lost half it's value which means you've lost half of your wealth unless you invested correctly, which most americans did not do. Our stock market is made mostly of foreign owned companies and they lie all over the media about our economy doing great. People won't get it till the market collapses on thier heads.

Answer 9

Wow they still defend the man. It's unreal. I get tax cuts which means I have more to spend on the family. Never mind he is paying double what he did in fuel. Double for the food, 10x's what he did 6 years ago on health care. So dumb these people are sometimes. I just want to thank you, it was informative.

Answer 10

Are you aware that several of your rankings are out of order?