Trump giving highest civilian honor to disgraced economist just because he praised Trump
The man who came up with the debunked economic theory that Republicans have used to justify tax cuts will be honored by Trump.
Arthur Laffer is a right-wing crank whose economic theory that tax cuts pay for themselves has not only been widely debunked by actual economists but has proven to be an abject failure when put into action.
Yet Trump is set to give Laffer the Medal of Freedom on Wednesday — the highest honor a civilian can receive — and it’s all because Laffer has praised the egomaniac who occupies the Oval Office.
Laffer truly does not deserve the honor he’s about to receive.
Kansas’ GOP-controlled legislature passed a tax plan back in 2012 authored by Laffer that proved to be so disastrous and a cause of such outrage that it led a Democrat to actually win the deep red state’s governor’s mansion in 2018.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped Republicans from justifying their bank-breaking tax scams with Laffer’s cockamamie theory.
In fact, the GOP tax scam is based off Laffer’s same failed principle that tax cuts pay for themselves, which we’ve already seen is not true, thanks to soaring federal deficits after Republicans jammed through the law.
But Trump, for his part, likes Laffer because Laffer co-authored a book praising Trump’s economic policies. Laffer wrote the book with none other than Stephen Moore, the other quack economist who Trump nominated to sit on the Federal Reserve Bank but had to withdraw because of racist and sexist remarks he made as a pundit on cable news.
Ultimately, Laffer’s theory has nearly bankrupted an entire state and has been used to justify policies that have led to soaring deficits. Yet instead of being run out of town, he’s now going to have a medal to show for it.
If that’s not the most perfect metaphor to describe the Trump era, we’re not sure what is.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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