Paul Krugman has a compelling post about the old canard that cutting taxes increases revenue. I’ve heard Giuliani spouting this line on the campaign trail, pandering to the Club for Growth crowd.

This seems to me to be a conservative fantasy, a cynical ploy to appeal to people who are so opposed to paying their taxes that they are willing to abandon the most basic logic. Surely we can all agree that if we cut taxes down to zero, then we will take in less revenue. Therefore, it must follow that there is a point beyond which cutting taxes cannot increase revenue.

I do understand the economics behind the principle. Cutting taxes leads to more disposable income for consumers, which leads to greater demand for goods and services, which leads to increased demand for labor, which leads to increased employment and wages, which creates more overall income to be taxed. However, in this age when outsourcing of labor is on the rise, and America is importing more goods than it is exporting, that chain seems to have a few weak links.

Last night, Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame had a book signing event at the Barnes & Noble in Chelsea. There were probably around eighty people there. Ken spoke for a bit and took some questions from the audience. Then he hosted an informal trivia game, giving away a free copy of his new book, Ken Jennings’s Trivia Almanac, to the two winners.

After the event, he was signing books. He signed my free copy of the Trivia Almanac “To Bill — The Chelsea Barnes & Noble Trivia Champ!”

I mentioned that I was a regular reader of his blog and poster to his message board. He didn’t recognize the name, understandably, but when I said “Shakespeare Teacher” he lit up. He told me that he had been to the blog and was in admiration of the 3-D Pic Tac Toe puzzles. He told me “I wouldn’t have thought that was possible.” I had a good comeback. “I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to win 74 consecutive games of Jeopardy!”

I asked if he would sign my copy of his first book, Braniac, and he signed it “To Bill — My Pic Tac Toe Guru!” which absolutely made my day.

In person, Ken turns out to be exactly the nice down-to-earth guy you’d expect him to be from his public persona. It was a great pleasure to meet him.