Art Laffer's Recent WSJ Piece

Noted economist Art Laffer wrote a sobering piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. I would have gotten to his piece later yesterday, but a number of searches which brought people to my blog were about Laffer and the Journal, so I knew he must have written a new editorial.

There are quite a few economists who write on the pages of the WSJ from time to time. Brian Wesbury, one of my favorites, has been absent for some time. But those who still contribute include Robert Barro and Alan Reynolds, to name two more.

While not a degreed economist myself, I have studied the discipline with great interest since my freshman year in college. I've read a number of basic texts, including Keynes' work, and one of his contemporary critics, Michael Hutt.

I've come to feel comfortable reading and evaluating various economists' monographs. In this vein, Laffer's recent piece is very troubling.

Without going into details, Laffer addresses the 1930s as the milestone by which current fiscal and monetary powers that be are measuring themselves. Laffer begins by discussing the initially too-tight monetary policy of the Depression, and current Fed Chairman Bernanke's determination to avoid making that mistake again.

At this point, Laffer takes a turn into tax policy. Framing Smoot-Hawley as a tax, which it most assuredly was, he provides evidence of enormous increases in a myriad of tax rates. He observes,

"The damage caused by high taxation during the Great Depression is the real lesson we should learn. A government simply cannot tax a country into prosperity. If there were one warning I'd give to all who will listen, it is that the U.S. federal and state tax policies are on an economic crash trajectory today just as they were in the 1930s."

Laffer then cites the current slated rise in state tax increases at 3.1% rate, the highest in almost twenty years. Further, he notes the 'cap-and-tax' legislation and health care levies as heading in this wrong direction.

He then turns to Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz on the subject of gold.

Following the twists and turns of the period's gold policy, Laffer notes two rather obscure facts. First, FDR forcibly took gold from the US populace at $20.67/ounce, then, less than a year later, devalued the dollar to $35/ounce. He both seized assets, and unintentionally sparked inflation, with two gold-related actions.

And this was technically fiscal policy, because, as Laffer points out, it was FDR's doing, not the Fed's.

Laffer concludes with a rather astounding statement of facts. The consequence of FDR's actions, in concert with the Fed, by mid-decade, produced consumer price inflation of roughly 15% from 1933-37, during a period of double-digit unemployment.

He finishes his editorial with these words,

"The lessons here are pretty straightforward. Inflation can and did occur during a depression, and that inflation was strictly a monetary phenomenon.

My hope is that the people who are running our economy do look to the Great Depression as an object lesson. My fear is that they will misinterpret the evidence and attribute high unemployment and the initial decline in prices to tight money, while increasing taxes to combat budget deficits."

There's no getting around what Laffer is saying. He bemoans the fact that fiscal tax policy can easily exist with lax monetary policy, ushering in a lethal economic brew of stagflation. That is, high unemployment, deficits, and high inflation. Because economic management is split between an administration and the Fed, this is a perennial risk.

As Laffer notes, Bernanke is already doing his part to over-inflate money supply. The current governments, state and federal, are repeating the mistakes of FDR's administration during the Depression, raising taxes to new heights.

This is the type of economic piece which causes me do dispute James Grant's recent cock-eyed optimism.

I had lunch earlier this week with my friend, B. He is a PhD with a focus on the history of monetary systems. He is currently concerned about inflation. As a member of a prominent think tank's board, he frequently participates in conferences and discussions of selected topics. Recently, he presented a paper concerning the sources and consequences of the recent financial debacle. B, and his colleagues, all fear hyper-inflation far more than a Depression.

And they are all pretty convinced we are headed in that direction. As Laffer notes, just because we have retarded economic activity today does not in any way mean we can't, or won't, also manage to ignite serious inflation.

The Fed had doubled the monetary base in the past year, as Laffer pointed out early in his editorial. The Fed is buying Treasuries, monetizing our own debt, too. The financial markets have responded by using the printed money and Fed cash to push up asset prices and keep interest rates low. Laffer remarked on this yesterday afternoon, on Neil Cavuto's Fox News program. With so much government liquidity flooding markets, he explained, of course equity prices are on a tear, as are commodities. But Laffer sees this sparking inflation within a few years.

Laffer quoted the esteemed late Milton Friedman,

"Inflation is, everywhere, a monetary phenomenon."

And monetary policy is probably the easiest in our Republic's history. Printing presses wide open and Congressionally-legislated deficits doubling through the next decade.

We have, as Laffer noted, a nearly-exact replay of the Great Depression's monetary and fiscal mechanics now in full swing. Monetary easing combined with fiscal irresponsibility that is resulting in higher tax burdens.

This is why I don't see an imminent, nor prolonged real economic recovery underway in the US at this time.