What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far, far from it, but there is no free lunch, as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.

in Economics from Yale University (1962) and an M. Laffer earned a B. A.

Laffer is best known for the Laffer curve an illustration of the theory that there exists some tax rate between 0% and 100% that will result in maximum tax revenue for governments. : /ˈlæfər/; born August 14 1940) is an American economist who first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981–89).