Three Economic Ideas the GOP Should Rethink

James Pethokoukis, writing at the National Review, explains why the landscape has changed too much for the 20-and 30-year-old classic Republican economic ideas to actually be feasible even if they were up for serious discussion…

Free enterprise, free markets, competition, and choice: All are timeless economic principles, but their application can and should evolve with changing economic circumstances. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, the top income-tax rate was 70 percent, inflation was 13 percent, health-care spending was 10 percent of GDP, and publicly held debt was 26 percent. The average American was 30 years old.

Today, the top marginal tax rate is 40 percent, and inflation is 2 percent. Health-care spending and the debt have both risen by nearly 80 percent as a share of output. The average American is 37 years old. Economics and demography require a reworking of the conservative policy portfolio. But center-right politicians in Washington keep offering same-old, same-old stale solutions. A few examples:

Head over for the three bad ideas that should be tweaked or trashed immediately.

Source:

No to the Flat Tax and Other Stale Ideas (National Review Online)