The Incredible Unpunished Incompetence of Art Laffer

Why are this man's ideas still discussed as if he was a serious contributor?  He's been tied for first (with Ben Stein) for years in the "Bill Kristol of Economics" contest. 

Why Don't We Hold Pundits Accountable?

"Five years ago, Arthur Laffer — creator of the Laffer curve and a member of President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board from 1981-89 — wrote an op-ed article. It was a grab bag of his pet peeves: opposition to Federal Reserve policies in response to the financial crisis and concern about the "unfunded liabilities of federal programs," including Social Security and Medicare. And, of course, he decried deficits, which in large part are the result of his thesis that tax cuts often increase revenue. As it turns out, for the most part, they don't. The article he penned on June 11, 2009? "Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates." "Alas," he wrote "I doubt very much that the Fed will do what is necessary to guard against future inflation and higher interest rates." At the time, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was 3.86 percent, and we were in a crisis-driven deflationary environment of negative 1.4 percent inflation. Today, the 10-year yields 2.65 percent and inflation is running at less than 2 percent. Inflation wasn't the only thing Laffer whiffed on. Continues here"

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/06/why-dont-we-hold-pundits-accountable/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29

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