VOA常速英语:特朗普将美国经济强势增长归功于“拉弗曲线”

In his address at the White House ceremony, Trump praised the state of the US economy and gave much credit for it to the economic policies promoted by Laffer and put in practice by former President Ronald Reagan. Today our nation is stronger, our people more prosperous and the world a much better place because of the brilliance and boldness of Doctor Arthur Laffer. Laffer is best known for the so-called “Laffer Curve”, a drawing he once made on a napkin to illustrate the relationship between tax rates and the amount of tax revenue collected by the government. Art showed that if tax rates are too high, people stop spending and they stop investing. The result is less growth and lower tax revenues. The theory not originated by Laffer has been popular with Republicans. But experts say there is no conclusive study to prove it. Critics also point out that the US economy has grown in some periods when the top marginal tax rates were as high as 90 percent. Earlier Wednesday the Federal Reserve which is the US central bank announced that interest rates will remain unchanged for the remainder of the year.

So far, this year the economy has performed reasonably well with solid fundamentals supporting continued growth and strong employment. Inflation has been running somewhat below our objective, but we’ve expected it to pick up supported by solid growth in a strong job market. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US economy is expected to remain strong, but it could change course due to trade developments and concerns about global growth. We’re quite mindful of the risks to the outlook and are prepared to move and use our tools as needed to sustain the expansion. Economists expect that the central bank will cut the interest rates once or twice this year for the first time in a decade. The federal fund rates affect the rates of consumer and business loans and can have an impact on the economy.