I always thought that once supply side economics failed in the 1980’s, the idea would be dead. That was a major miscalculation on my part. The idea that cutting taxes raises revenue is so much fun for some people, that facts do not inconvenience them.
James Pilant
From the Washington Post: There has been zero net job creation since December 1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s as well. Middle-income households made less in 2008, when adjusted for inflation, than they did in 1999 — and the number is sure to have declined further during a difficult 2009. The Aughts were the first decade … Read More
via Under the Mountain Bunker
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Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
The WashPost author tries to make the case that the Bush tax cuts did not create any jobs by stretching the reporting period over the entire decade. However, those of us who recall that era remember that the first Bush tax cut was not passed until 2002, and the second in 2003. Neither tax cut was fully phased in until 2005.
If you look at the second chart that the author presents, the line graph, it puts the lie to the bar chart that he wants to hang his hat on. An analysis of the line graph shows upward growth in job creation, starting in 2004-05, as the Bush tax cuts were starting to have an impact on the economy. The job growth continued until 2008, when the subprime mortgage meltdown took the economy over the cliff. Also in the line chart, you can see the explosive job growth in the 1980s, resulting from the Reagan tax cuts.
So, other than the data presented in the line chart, the author may have a point: “There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.” Or, to quote another famous sage, “Everyone is entitled to their own set of facts!” (Groucho Marx)
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I’m sorry. Your numbers don’t work. Job growth for the entire decade was anemic. The two years you say “the tax cuts kicked in” had nowhere near the job growth of the earlier eras. What’s more the two years you point at were the apex of the housing and speculative boom on Wall Street. You are happy to blame the end of the benefits from the Bush tax cuts on the housing crash but unwilling to give the same phenomenon its due in creating those jobs in those two years. I saw the housing go up. I had students in my class who worked in the construction industry. They did well. But their jobs came as a side product of speculation. And even if the jobs came from the tax cuts,how do you explain that most were poorly paid service jobs. Are those the jobs created by tax cuts – McJobs and other menial work?
James Pilant
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