Kerry May Be Biggest Threat To the U.S. Economy?

I’m not the first to suggest that National Review econpundits Lawrence Kudlow and Stephen Moore are less than honest with their readers, but it now seems these two are during most of their opeds for HumanEventsOnline, which is also pushing that Swift Boat scam.

Moore’s latest as of August 6 states:

The centerpiece of Kerry’s economic program is to repeal the Bush tax cut for those earning more than $200,000…That was Bill Clinton’s claim in 1992 and we all got soaked. But even if Kerry is true to his word, his plan would almost certainly short circuit the economic rally that has been well under way for more than a year now…The latest federal budget projections show that the Bush tax cuts have been far more effective than even the White House originally expected. The latest data from OMB show the 2004 budget deficit shrinking from a projected $521 billion, 4.5% of GDP, to only $445 billion, 3.8% of GDP. This huge improvement is due entirely to a surge in federal tax revenues.

The rightwing also said that the Clinton tax increase would lead to slow economic growth. We got 3.7% per annum growth for the Clinton years and 22 million new jobs, whereas what he suggests as the booming Bush years will likely growth average less than 2.5% per year with a net job loss. Moore wishes to discuss only the 2003 tax cut and have us forget that the 2001 tax cut failed to deliver a significant recovery. To suggest the economy is growing faster than the White House had projected is simply put not true. Maybe Moore should read this from Brad DeLong. And if Moore thinks Federal tax revenues are surging, I suggest he review the data more carefully.