Is it possible that the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, followed by the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the legacy of Ronald Reagan is where it all went wrong?  That is the case that John Komlos makes in his paper recently released onto SSRN -   Reaganomics: A Historical Watershed. It wasn't morning again.

It was the beginning of a dystopian nightmare from which we still have not awakened.

It Wasn't The Stupid Economy

Professor Komlos is an economic historian with PhDs in history and economics from the University of Chicago.  He worked with Nobel laureate Robert Fogel, which impresses the hell out of me, so I have to take him seriously, even though I love ERTA and TRA 1986.  Those acts are why public accounting was good to me, despite the fact that I dress poorly, can't stand golf and have a below average knowledge of sports.

The gist of the article is that the decreases in marginal tax rates did not boost the economy.  Rather the benefits of tax cuts went disproportionately to the top tier.  This has led to despair among the working classes (i.e. Hillary Clinton's deplorables) and the election of President Trump, which Professor Komlos thinks was not such a good thing.  But what about her e-mails?