The End of Prosperity

Darkening Clouds Descend on the U.S. Economy

Those who predicted a U.S. economic collapse in the past were wrong. Americans are incomparably richer than they were a century ago. If owning microwaves, color TVs, air conditioners and the like indicates material well-being, they have made substantial gains since 1970. The current generation doesn’t remember the Great Depression, the deprivations of World War II or even the 1970s stagflation. They’ve forgotten President Ronald Reagan’s economic transformation. Now, leaders who learned all the wrong lessons from history are advocating policies that will undercut the U.S. economy. Since they don’t understand prosperity, they will kill it with mistaken “trade protectionism,” “tax increases,” “profligate government spending,” “new regulations,” increased “government intervention in the economy” and bad “monetary policy.”

What the “Laffer Curve” Really Says

Dr. Arthur Laffer famously drew the Laffer Curve on a paper napkin at the Hotel Washington in December 1974 as he explained it to Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Jude Wanniski, then of The Wall Street Journal. These men, later prominent thought leaders ...