A Second Opinion

In the Letters section of Today's Los Angeles Times, Harvey H. Liss of Irvine, California, wrote;

"I'm appalled that John H. Cochrane, a professor of finance, would parrot the
Republican nonsense about how reducing taxes will result in increased hiring.

I was president of a 30-person engineering firm for 30 years. We had our ups and downs; however our discussions over whether to hire someone never included anything about taxes or healthcare, but did include everything about our project backlog. A government stimulus to fund infrastructure projects, like improving our country's Internet backbone, would have helped our project backlog.

I can't imagine why it would be any different for any other firm, small or large."

That is exactly what I said in the Los Angeles Times three months ago. No small business has EVER, hired an new employee to get a tax break! Period! End of story!

However, I do take a minor exception to Harvey's letter. This is not just a Republican stupidity. It is equally shared by Obama and his cadre of theoretical economists who know absolutely nothing about how the real world works.

You can read earlier posts, or The Great Recession Conspiracy, to learn exactly what the government should be doing.