Smoot-Hawley Revisited

“Did it work? Anyone? Anyone know the effects? It did not work and the United States sank deeper into the Great Depression.”

Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

I suppose some people haven’t seen ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off‘.

Also the Laffer Curve, which Mr. Stein mentions next, while the underlying idea may be correct, has been used as a justification for some very bad public policy choices as well.

( …and finally: )

Win Ben Stein’s Money

It turns out it wasn’t his money you were winning after all. I for one am finding this out twenty two years too late.