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Will, I remember that when taxes were cut in '81 it ended a recession and was the beginning of a long, extended wave of prosperity that we are still in now. In the years since then, slowdowns have been quite moderate and infrequent. When I was growing up we had a recession every three years or so, and some of them were nasty. To a degree, the '86 tax simplification helped the process along. After Reagan's big cuts in '81 (which accompanied big spending cuts, though not enough to balance), there was a huge and sustained expansion. Compare to Carter, Ford, Nixon........
Clinton didn't turn supply side on its head at all. The small hike in '93 wasn't big enough to reverse the huge technology-driven growth in productivity and investment that was unleashed by the computer industry. Govt policy had very very little to do with the growth in the '90s. The peace dividend plus the computer industry drove the expansion. All the Bush cuts did was restore taxation levels to historical norms; the prosperity in the 90s boosted tax receipts way above normal expectations.
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