The author of what many consider the foremost text on economics has died at the age of 94. His text called Economics has been in use for decades. Samuelson was also involved as an economic advisor to JFK. The obit I read said the following: "...was a liberal, and like many of his generation a follower of British economist John Maynard Keynes, who proposed that a nation needs an activist government that could foster low unemployment by steering tax and monetary policies, even if it meant deficit spending at times". The federal income tax cut of the Kennedy years-actually passed after his death-has been noted often by those wanting to cut income taxes. The obit stated what Samuelson said on this issue in 1961 . "A temporary reduction in tax rates on individual incomes can be a powerful weapon against recession" (my emphasis).
(Source: "A Widely Influential Economist" by Polly Anderson of The AP. The Record on 12/14/09)
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