The Economy: The Great Consensus

I am talking about the accumulated evidence of the last five years that our tax system exerts too heavy a drag on growth—that it siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power—that it reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment and risk-taking.

The audience had heard it before. Eisenhower had voiced the same thoughts in much the same words, and so had a lot of other Republicans over the years. What made the words tonic to the black-tie audience of businessmen at the Economic...