Great Leonhardt piece -
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/bu...s-malaise.html
Quote:
The place where economic knowledge gets murkier is how to best deal with many of our biggest problems.
We cannot know, for example, what would happen if the government raised taxes to cut the deficit. A moderate increase seems unlikely to do much damage to economic growth, given that the increases by George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton did not prevent the 1990s boom — and that George W. Bush’s tax cuts were followed by mediocre growth. All things equal, though, tax increases do not lift growth.
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The basic point has been lost that while raising more revenue from taxes isn't going to automatically solve anything, it won't be catastrophic to the economy either. That's why it breaks my mind to hear politicians referring to a minor revenue increase as "JOB-KILLING".