Before Thomas Sowell became known for his insightful commentary on US public policy, economic conditions, and American culture, he was a professor at leading American universities and a well-respected expert on economic thought and history. Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, writes on economics, history, social policy, ethnicity, and the history of ideas. Sowell wrote a short essay titled “Trickle Down Theory” and “Tax Cuts for the Rich,” published by Hoover Press in 2012. In this essay, Sowell articulates the true effects of tax cuts and corrects notions put forward by the media.

Searching the economic literature and examining tax policy going back to the 1920s, Sowell shows that tax cuts are about overall economic expansion, not about the individual beneficiaries of changes in tax rates. Relying on information from and the writings of a diverse group of US presidents (Wilson, Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Kennedy, Reagan, and George W. Bush), and economists and businessmen (Joseph Shumpeter, Andrew Mellon, and John Maynard Keynes), Sowell demystifies the trickle-down theory and unscrambles misconceptions that have made rational debates about tax policies impossible for decades.

"Gaslighting getting you down? Feel like the regime has dialed the Megaphone up to, and past, eleven? You’re not crazy. It’s definitely happening and likely to get worse as our masters’ ability to cope with reality further worsens—or worse, they gain the complete and absolute control they seek. They’re both scornful and terrified of dissent, which explains why they incessantly shriek at us and lie to our faces.

So, to help you navigate the twitstorm, I present a guide to seven of the regime’s most common, oft-deployed lies. This is not meant to be comprehensive. I’m sure there are tactics they use that either I haven’t crystalized or that aren’t front-of-mind at the moment. I encourage others to expand the catalogue with their own observations. The better we can understand how they try to manipulate us, the better we can resist and counter it all." - Michael Anton