Arthur B. Laffer ist Anhänger einer angebotsorientierten Wirtschaftspolitik und war von 1981 bis 1989 ein wichtiges Mitglied von Ronald Reagens Economic Policy Advisory Board. Laffer gelangte vor allem wegen der sogenannten Laffer-Kurvein den frühen 1980er Jahren zu Popularität. Diese soll er angeblicherstmals bei einem Abendessen 1974 auf eine Serviette gemalt haben.
....Whenever the government bails someone out of trouble, they always put someone
into trouble, plus of course a toll for the troll. Every $100 billion in
bailout requires at least $130 billion in taxes, where the $30 billion extra
is the cost of getting government involved.
If you don't believe me, just watch how Congress and Barney Frank run the
banks. If you thought they did a bad job running the post office, Amtrak,
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the military, just wait till you see what they'll
do with Wall Street.
...
The consequences of these actions were disastrous. Just look at the stock
market from the post-Kennedy high in early 1966 to the pre-Reagan low in
August of 1982. The average annual real return for U.S. assets compounded
annually was -6% per year for 16 years. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a bear
market. And it is something that you may well experience again. Yikes!
Then we have this administration's panicked Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, and of
course the deer-in-the-headlights Mr. Bernanke in his bungling of monetary
policy.
...
There are many more examples, but none hold a candle to what's happening right
now. Twenty-five years down the line, what this administration and Congress
have done will be viewed in much the same light as what Herbert Hoover did in
the years 1929 through 1932. Whenever people make decisions when they are
panicked, the consequences are rarely pretty. We are now witnessing the end of
prosperity.
