Credit: yukonfed

The dogma of supply-side economics has dominated American politics for nearly four decades, even as the evidence has discredited the right-wing ideology and its central tenets time and again. Trickle-down economics should have been cast into the dustbin of history way back in 1988 at the end of the Reagan years — during which the national debt nearly tripled — but 30 years later it is still the dominant ideology in Washington (at least within the party that currently controls every branch of government).

Whether most of those who still espouse the supply-side doctrine genuinely believe in its claims, however, is doubtful. Though there are surely some ideologues who are still convinced that slashing taxes for the wealthy will increase revenues and that the newly-created wealth will trickle down to the majority (rather than exacerbating inequality, as it always has), there’s a much better explanation for most proponents of supply-side theory: They are lying. Indeed, the past few months have basically confirmed what those on the left have long maintained: Supply-side theory is simply a pretext for right-wingers to wage a class […]

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