How to fix the economy without really trying:
Schlossberger, Eugene
How to fix the economy without really trying EUGENE SCHLOSSBERGER SUPPLLY-SIDIL and demand-side economics have proven powerless to cure our economic ills. The time has come for a new approach to...
...Lateral-side economics bases its prescription on the PP...
...this is called the direct tally method...
...Thus we would solve both our economic and political difficulties, killing, as it were, two turkeys with one stone...
...A few moments of calm consideration, however, shows otherwise...
...The time has come for a new approach to economic analysis, an approach based on incontrovertible verities...
...This is called the trickle-down method...
...Alternatively, one may calculate how much money there is, how much money one doesn't have, and subtract the latter from the former...
...Profit figures, in lateral-side economics, are a product of accounting procedures...
...the Saudis would immediately guarantee our loans and assume our deficit...
...It has been suggested that since taxes and death are the two inevitable factors, lowering of tax rates would result in lower mortality rates...
...Perversity is perhaps the most important aspect of lateral-side economics, since the economy's behavior is in large part governed by the principle of perversity (PP): every economic policy brings about the opposite of its intended effect...
...all we need to do is LIE down and wait...
...The true beauty of lateral-side economics, however, is that its triumph is inevitable...
...For as MDG rises, so do government revenues...
...Suppose that, contra PP, America nears bankruptcy...
...Thus lateral- side economics is well named...
...The world economy could not sustain such a severe blow...
...if lateral-side economists are right, monetarism and fis-calism will yield to price-ism...
...Since b) is hardly undesirable, we need only consider outcome a...
...The executives of Chrysler and Lockheed have done very well by following this policy...
...One can simply count up one's money...
...It is time for the United States government to follow their example...
...Lateral-side analysts begin with the supposition that the price of an object is very closely correlated with how much it costs...
...EUGENE SCHLOSSBERGER (Eugene Schlossberger is an Assistant Professor at The Pennsylvania State University...
...In turn, government revenues, when expressed as a percentage of the tax base, determine tax rates, which in turn affect the amount of money due the government...
...Saudi Arabia, for example, would not permit it...
...Tax rates, in lateral-side economics, are measured in terms of money due the government, or MDG...
...It is thus crucial for individuals to determine how much money they have...
...The future belongs to us...
...Lateral-side economics, however, holds that the death rate is always 100 percent eventually...
...This is known as the tax/revenue spiral, and is thought to be the primary cause of CPA's...
...For example, as the first year of Rea-ganomics amply illustrates, a policy designed to increase money supply and balance die budget invariably creates budget deficits which shrink the available supply of money...
...Although Friedbraith's theorem has not been formally proven, preliminary statistical studies indicate that downturn cost curves correlate closely with deflationary periods in South Succotash and o';er Corn and Bean'Belt...
...For either a) we will succeed in going bankrupt, or b) PP will ensure that the economy is healthy, sound, and solvent...
...There are two methods of so doing...
...Hence lateral-side economists propose a policy based on the following goal: total bankruptcy...
...Pessimists, however, theorize that the inevitability quotient is a constant, and so any decrease in taxes must be offset by more deaths...
...Conversely, a full-employment program will put firms out of business and thus result in widespread unemployment (vide the "Second Depression" of the late thirties...
...Such an approach is provided by lateral-side economics...
...Which method one uses is a matter of taste, although there is no accounting for taste...
...Moreover, third world countries, instead of reviling us and clamoring for our help, would welcome us as a sister insolvent...
...This is called the "price/cost" thesis, and it enables one 10 predict inflation rates, given Friedbraith's theorem that inflation rates rise as prices increase...
...we should pursue an economic program which we would like to fail...
...He is not now and has never been a Professor of Economics...
...given the power of special interest groups, bankruptcy cannot be put off indefinitely...
...cities...
...Since the factors which influence prices are taxes, profits, and perversity, we will examine each parameter in turn...
...Skeptics might conclude that such a policy would be disastrous...
...Thus prices are the key to latt.al-side economics...
Vol. 110 • February 1983 • No. 3
