Hey, Jude, a grudging tip of the hat

How the World Works owes nothing to supply-side economic theory. Nothing!

Published December 15, 2005 5:36PM (EST)

Oh the ignominy. I was informed this morning by a reader that I should tip my hat to the late Jude Wanniski, author of "The Way the World Works," former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, and advisor to Ronald Reagan.

Wanniski coined the term "supply-side economics" and is credited (at least in his own bio) as the designer of "the Reagan tax cuts that propelled the U.S. economy out of stagflation and led to the great stock market boom that followed."

Not only have I never read "The Way the World Works" and was only vaguely familiar with Wanniski's name before this morning, but I would rather cut off my right arm than admit to being inspired by an architect of supply-side economics. I will concede, however, that there is an unfortunate similarity between the logo that adorns the online order form for his book and the logo for How the World Works.

I love my logo, designed by longtime Salon contributor Val Mina, but I guess I have to acknowledge that it may not be the most original artistic concept ever to grace our pages. And yet, a fundamental proposition of this blog is that globalization is a story of intimate interconnection between all things economic, political, social and technological. The fact that Jude Wanniski's way of viewing the world could look the same as mine affirms that. Now, let us never speak of this again.


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

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