• spujb@lemmy.cafeOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 days ago

    i almost believe there has to be like a reckoning in economics, kind of like with psychology and the backlash against freud. far too many of the assumptions are taken for granted as fact despite haveing no data to back them (like the laffer curve, really?). they just get propogated because rich white men said stuff that benefits them.

    like there is definitely some truth to glean in economics. but as it stands, it’s a disservice to call it a science.

    • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      like there is definitely some truth to glean in economics. but as it stands, it’s a disservice to call it a science.

      absolutely, my statement was real edgelordy, but the idea behind economics, that is to say “resource management” is a valuable field of study, but as you say, it’s all been manipulated shit to make the rich richer.

    • Corn@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      2 days ago

      Nobody ever looked at the laffer curve and went “huh, so we cut taxes for the rich, and tax revenue went down, that means we should raise taxes for the rich.”

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        2 days ago

        It’s been a long time since my college econ classes, but I remember the flaw with Laffer’s curve wasn’t so much that it exists as it was his assumption that we’re on the right side of the curve instead of the left.

        As far as I can remember, even if Laffer was correct about his theory (and that’s a hell of an if) no one has been able to demonstrably prove the point where cutting taxes increases federal revenue. It’s pretty obvious at this point the whole theory is just a post hoc rationale for cutting taxes.

      • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        2 days ago

        We just didn’t cut taxes enough!!!1!! Keep cutting taxes for the rich and someday we’ll ALL be rich!!

        • Corn@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          But the laffer curve indicates that if we cut taxes a little and that lowers revenue, cutting them even more would be much worse??

          • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            14
            ·
            2 days ago

            The Laffer curve represents the premise that high taxes repress the economy and lower total revenue as badly as extremely low taxes would and that there is a sweet spot on the curve where the tax rate isn’t too high or too low which maximizes total revenue. Conservatives always claim that the tax rates are above that point and that we just need to keep lowering tax rates on the rich to spur the economy and thus boost revenue.

            They don’t know where that sweet spot is but they are just sure that we are above it and we just need to keep cutting. In summary, they are idiots who just want to make rich people richer.

            • Corn@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              7
              ·
              2 days ago

              Yes, that was my point, that if they actually believed in that model, they would support raising taxes because every time we cut taxes, revenue decreases.