It is one of the iconic moments in modern economics: A young professor named Arthur Laffer sketched a curve on a bar napkin in 1974 to show an aide to President Gerald R. Ford why the federal government should cut taxes.
The Laffer Curve became famous; the Republican Party became the party of tax cuts; and, in 2015, the Smithsonian announced that it was putting the napkin on display.
But the napkin now celebrated for starting a tax revolt is not, in fact, the original napkin, according to the people who were at the fabled meeting at what was then the Two Continents restaurant in Washington. In an interview last week, Mr. Laffer, 77, said it was most likely a keepsake created a few years later.
Many hateful people were or were not involved:
Among the clues: It is cloth, while the original napkin was paper. It is dated 9/13/74, while the original meeting took place after the November 1974 midterm elections. And it is inscribed to Donald H. Rumsfeld, then Ford’s chief of staff. Mr. Laffer met with Dick Cheney, Mr. Rumsfeld’s deputy.
“Look at how neatly it was done!” Mr. Laffer said of the museum napkin, on which he drew his curve, along with a brief explanation. “You tell me how, late at night with a glass of wine, you’re going to do it that neatly.”
For starters, I won't believe in the false promise of supply side economics TYVM…
“When you get old,” he said, “it’s hard to say which napkin was which and when and where.”
So true.
Depends.
Many hateful people were or were not involved:
The "curve" describes an unphysical process, so there's that too.
For starters, I won't believe in the false promise of supply side economics TYVM…
/FFS
I think he has the dependent and independent axes the wrong way round.
Hoax Economics.
You mean so our eyes don't roll too far back into their sockets?
After the meeting, Cheney is known to say: "Napkins don't matter."