Poor George Gilder. My long time friend and co-founder of Discovery Institute is reviled in a new book by New Republic editor Jonathan Chait (reviewed in National Review by Kevin A. Hassett here) and all because he was, and is, one of the biggest proponents of supply-side economics. Chait, drinking deep of the current liberal doctrine (borrowed from Herbert Marcuse’s writings) that people who are left wing should have free speech, while others should not, makes many of his arguments ad hominem.
When it comes to George Gilder, Chait digs back almost 40 years to find a time in George’s life when he experimented with extra-sensory perception. I remember George telling me what fun he was having with the ESP versions of card tricks. In the most memorable case, he tried to reveal the best possible book of poetry to send to his girlfriend, Nini. He did it by walking backwards through the poetry section of his local bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts, bending his arm over his head to select a book off the shelf. Taking one, he opened the book at random and put his finger down, blindly, on what happened to be the perfect poem — something about a couple walking together through the snow in Lenox, Massachusetts. As it happened, George and Nini had just enjoyed such a walk. Talk about serendipity! That would almost make me believe in ESP.
Nini, of course, was dumbfounded and impressed when the book arrived, with that spectacularly apt page bookmarked, and undoubtedly inscribed with some ornate sweetness from George. He thinks it helped finally to crack her reluctance to become involved with such an oddball as he; and they were married and have lived happily ever after (about 32 years so far, with four fabulous children, now grown).
Photo Credit: Jerusalem Post
Even with that experience, George doesn’t do ESP tricks any more, though I have seen good Christians do about the same when, consulting the Bible randomly for wisdom, they open it and plunk their finger to some verse, hoping it will enlighten them. (I tried it once and wound up with something about dietary restrictions, which was not appropriate at all!)
What George does examine these days is high technology and, yes, economics. In the field of physics he can educate you beyond your capacity, and certainly beyond your interest, in “spooky action at a distance.” Maybe that is also attached to supply-side economics, which, after all, contains an idea that seems so contrarian to liberals like Chait: cut tax rates and you will get back more revenue, not less. Don’t try this at home, as it were, because it doesn’t apply to every situation. But it does so beautifully whenever government’s greed has exceeded the economy’s ability to produce.
Chait doesn’t want to talk much about actual results of supply side economics, of course. But here we have the record, from the administrations of Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and, now, George W. Bush: low tax rates work. A rising tide lifts all boats, as Kennedy would put it.
To appreciate what is happening, Chait should examine the latest report on the U.S. deficit. Despite all the terrible spending increases of the Bush years (Democrats pushing Republicans, who were only too ready in many cases to meet the challenge), and despite a war, the post-tax cut economy continues to grow, increasing tax revenues and driving the deficit downwards. Very “spooky”. And very nice.
You can thank supply-siders like George Gilder for that, and have a chuckle, meanwhile, at Mr. Chait’s pitiful personal attacks.