Nobody Debunks Larry Kudlow Like Larry Kudlow

Here’s Larry Kudlow, explaining why Tim Pawlenty’s tax-cutting proposal will be good for the economy:

Smaller government, lower tax rates, fewer economic regulations, and sound money were tried down through the 20th century by Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. These policies worked. Over the past decade, however, the historic postwar U.S.-growth baseline of 3.4 percent per year has been dismantled. Through 2010, actual growth is nearly 20 percent — or close to $3 trillion — below the historical norm. Pawlenty is saying we have to do our best to close that humungous [sic] output and jobs gap.

Students of history will remember that, for most of the last decade, George W. Bush was president. And for all of the last decade, the tax cuts signed by Bush–which dropped marginal tax rates to historic lows–have been the law. So, if the slowing of the US economy coincided with an enormous tax cut, that would seem to imply the exact opposite of what Kudlow believes he’s arguing. Am I missing something?

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