The One with The End of Prosperity

216. Title & Author: The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy—If We Let it Happen by Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous (304 pages)

Genre: Nonfiction—Economics

Completed: 16 February 2012

Summary & Review:

The beginning of the 1980s found the American economy limping out of one of the worst decades of recession and inflation in American history. Yet, within only a couple short years, the American economy became the premier powerhouse in the world and stayed that way for a quarter century. How did this transformation take place? Economist Arthur Laffer, Wall Street Journal columnist Stephen Moore, and investment guru Peter Tanous present evidence that the supply-side, i.e. free market, reforms enacted by President Reagan and others during those years unleashed the economy and allowed the country to reach previously unknown levels of prosperity. While the title of the book implies that lower levels of taxation are the key to economic growth, the authors also focus on free trade, sound federal monetary policy, and other free market principles that contributed to the prosperity. As usual with some of the more substantial books I review, I will post a more in-depth summary of thearguments found within The End ofProsperity in a couple of weeks.

This was an excellent book. Laffer, Moore, and Tanous backed up all of their statements and ideas with loads of evidence. I especially liked their discussion of a federal flat tax to replace the insurmountable mountain of tax code that currently exists. As they lay out in the book, when federal tax rates are lowered, tax revenue actually increases. At one point in the book they quote then Senator Obama during a presidential primary debate in 2008 acknowledging the fact that increasing capital gains taxes decreases revenues from that tax. Then he goes on to state that he doesn’t care, he just thinks it is more “fair” for those people affected by that tax to pay more. That makes no sense to me. Liberals posit that they want to help people through government programs. Thus, having more revenues by which to fund those programs would allow them to do more, no? Apparently they don’t really care about what works, but only want to make everyone equal by tearing down those who have more, not lifting those with less.

But, back to the book: It was good. Read it. 

Rating: 9.0