‘Economic Witchcraft’

Robert E. Bolman (Letters, Jan. 19) contends that the Arthur Laffer theory of tax reduction is responsible for “greatly spurring economic growth.” I think he is in error on several counts.

He assumes that tax money saved is automatically put into growth investments, rather like the assumption made by Marxists as to how people will behave selflessly and cooperatively “when the people take power.”

Such growth as there has been is strongly related to the military, that is to say, to the enormous federal deficit, which is clearly of the nature of deferred taxes and is much more like Keynesian economics rather than Laffer.

I’m not arguing against either the military budget or the deficit as such. I’m simply reminding Bolman and like-minded people that if they wish to “see the big picture,” they should not leave out big pieces of it, as they accuse legislators of doing.

ARTHUR HERTZBERG

Pacific Palisades