Supply-Side Tax Rebates? - September 10, 2003
Times Watch for September 10, 2003
Supply-Side Tax Rebates?
In his Sunday business
story Selling One (or More) for the Gipper, Danny Hakim interviews David
Stockman, President Reagans budget director. Stockman, who became
a liberal favorite after turning against the Reagan Revolution, seems now to
be turning back: He was absolutely right on defense, and I was totally wrong,
Mr. Stockman said of Mr. Reagan. The deficit was ballooning and anything I
could cut I was for cutting. He was a hundred percent right because that is what
brought the Soviet Union down, that is what ended and purged the world of the
scourge of Communism, that is what really allowed for the flowering of liberal
democracies in the 90's, he said. In Mr. Stockman's view, it also allowed for
lower military spending in future years.
Stockman reflects on the
Reagan Administrations philosophy of supply-side economics: When Mr. Reagan
decided to tap Mr. Stockman, his John Anderson stand-in, as budget chief,
supply-side theory got its shot at the big time. We were considered like
kooks, he said. What do you mean low tax rates are going to do any good? What
do you mean capital gains shouldn't be taxed? What do you mean that if you
provide powerful incentives for risk taking that you will get an acceleration in
technology?
Reporter Hakim then makes
this odd aside: Judging from the $400 tax refund checks that the Bush
administration has been sending, it is not just a kooky theory anymore-though
many Democrats would beg to differ. Actually, the tax refund checks are the
opposite of supply-side economics;
they actually represent demand-side, Keynesian economics, with the goal of
getting consumers to spend money, as opposed to the supply-side view of cutting
taxes on the wealthy to spur investment.
Its also hard to believe
the Democrats consider the tax refund kooky, since it was
their idea in the first place (one Bush co-opted for his tax plan).
For the rest of Danny Hakims interview with
Reagans budget director David Stockman,
click here.
Times
Bias Goes Nuclear
Walter Sullivans front-page obituary Wednesday for
Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb, is titled: Edward Teller, Is Dead at 95;
Fierce Architect of H-Bomb. (Note: the Times breaks new ground with that
headline; the phrase
Fierce Architect is apparently original to the Times.)
Sullivan opens: Few, if
any, physicists of this century have generated such heated debate as Edward
Teller. Much of it centered on his decade-long effort to produce the hydrogen
bomb, his ardent promotion of nuclear weapons in general, his deep suspicion of
Soviet intentions and his opposition to curtailment of nuclear testing. His
frustrations in seeking to win support for development of the hydrogen bomb led
to his testimony that helped deprive J. Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the
development of the first atomic bomb, of his security clearance. The result in
much of the scientific community was a backlash against Dr. Teller that clouded
the rest of his life.
Sullivan later describes
the controversy in loaded terms: A large part of the scientific community,
dismayed at the witch-hunting of the McCarthy era, aware of long-standing
friction between Dr. Teller and Dr. Oppenheimer, and loyal to the leader of the
original atomic bomb project, turned its back on Dr. Teller. (A recent book, "Brotherhood
of the Bomb, by historian Gregg Herken, claims that Oppenheimer, head of
the Los Alamos laboratory, was a Communist Party member in the late 30s and
early 40s.)
The Washington Posts
obituary of Teller manages a more neutral view, both in content-no
allegations of witch-hunting-and headline: Edward Teller, Father of the
H-Bomb, Dies at 95.
For the rest of the Times obituary to Teller,
click here.
Antiquated
Alabama Rejects Tax Hike
Wednesdays story by David Halbfinger, Alabama
Voters Crush Tax Plan Sought by Governor, tells how Alabama voters by a 2-1
margin rejected a tax hike favored by Republican Gov. Bob Riley. Halbfinger
implies Alabamas No vote on Rileys daring tax hike proposal leaves the
states antiquated finances stuck in a previous century: Mr. Riley's
background as a congressman and acolyte of Newt Gingrich, who had never voted to
raise taxes, cast a national spotlight on Alabama's fiscal crisis, even as other
Republican governors from Georgia to Nevada have turned to tax increases to keep
afloat. None, though, was as daring as Mr. Riley, who sought to bring his
state's antiquated finances into the 21st century in one fell swoop.
Halbfinger adds: Mr.
Riley decided to tackle not just the budget, but also the whole tax structure.
Rather than ask for a tax increase just to plug a deficit, he reasoned, he ought
to deliver something big in the bargain, like a dramatically improved school
system. But as the D.C. school system shows, higher taxes and increased
spending dont automatically equal dramatic improvements in public education.
For the rest of David Halbfingers story on
Alabamas tax vote,
click here.
Estrada
Questions Unasked
A Wednesday editorial, Straight Talk on Judicial
Nominees, defends Senate Democrats opposition to Bush federal judgeship
nominee, Miguel Estrada, who recently withdrew his name from consideration. The
Times editorial states as fact: Mr. Estrada would not answer senators
questions. But as Robert Alt notes on
National Review Online, that might be because the senators wouldnt ask him
any: First, [Senate opponents] alleged that he failed to answer their
questions. But Estrada answered all the questions that he felt would not violate
the canons of judicial ethics. He then offered to answer any questions the
senators had in follow-up, but very few even bothered to submit questions.
For the rest of the Times editorial on Estrada,
click here.