You might remember David Stockman as Reagan's budget director and the architect of Ronnie's huge tax cuts. Stockman, a staunch supply-side theorist, justified it by coining the phrase "trickle down". You might also remember the Reagan Recession which followed in 1982-1983, featuring 10%+ unemployment. (Obviously, not enough people remember.)
Last night's 60 Minutes on CBS had a segment featuring Stockman talking not about cutting taxes, but raising them. Seems the one-time Wunderkind has had a change of heart. Said Stockman:
"Tax cuts are a religion for Republicans -- an absolute, the gospel, something which can't be questioned.
"We've demonized taxes, turned them into a metaphysical evil. It's rank demogoguery. To always rub raw this anti-tax sentiment, the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.
"Both parties are telling a Big Lie, that we can have all our programs and not tax ourselves appropriately to pay for them. It's delusional.
"Neither party would cut more than $50 billion, and the problem is $1.3 trillion."
Stockman actually agrees with Buster (see the 9/24/10 post, "Tackling the Deficit") that all the George W. Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire at year-end. He then goes a step further, wanting to whack the shit out of the national debt with a one-time 15% surcharge/surtax on the wealthiest Americans. Dude!
Really good ideas. Don't hold your breath.
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