2018-07-23bloomberg.com

Official data for the second quarter isn't available yet, but private data isn't looking encouraging. PayScale's index of real wages shows a dramatic deterioration [of almost 10%] in the period... growth hasn't really sped up either -- real per capita gross domestic product growth was only 1.34 percent in the first quarter, below 2017's pace, and considerably less than in 2014 and 2015...

This tepid rate of growth means that the tax cut is unlikely to pay for itself. By this point, almost all economists recognize that income tax cuts no longer stimulate the economy enough to reduce deficits, as supply-siders thought they would back in the 1980s. But economists still held out some hope that lowering the corporate tax, which is believed to be more harmful than the personal income tax, would have a more salutary effect on the budget. Unfortunately, that hope appears to be fading, as fiscal deficits increase rapidly.



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