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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Experts Warn Zombies Lurk in Colorado Economy

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Monday, October 13, 2014   

DENVER - Millions tuned in to last night's season premier of 'The Walking Dead' on AMC. While zombies on our TV screens may be good for some white-knuckled entertainment, economists warn zombies in our economy are not.

"Zombie economics" is a term that describes economic principles that have been proven in practice not to hold true, explains Chris Stiffler with the Colorado Fiscal Institute.

"We say in scary movies a zombie is a corpse that comes back to life," says Stiffler. "But even scarier in the real world is this idea of 'zombie economics,' which we call dangerous doctrines that are repeatedly slain by evidence, but are still walking among us."

Stiffler says supply-side or trickle-down economics is an example of zombie economics that's the "hardest to kill." He says the theory that cutting taxes for the rich ends up helping everyone has been proven false several times in practice since it entered public dialogue in the 1980s.

Since then, he says the richest 20 percent of Americans have seen a 71-percent increase in their earnings, while the bottom 20-percent have seen a seven-percent increase.

Stiffler cites neighboring Kansas as another example of supply-side economics not working. The state signed into law huge tax cuts that experts say have resulted in large revenue loss and cuts to public services. He says that's the "trick" of "trickle-down" economics.

"No matter how low your taxes are on your business, if don't have the consumers to buy your products you're not going to have a successful business," he says. "So, at a common sense level you wouldn't think that would be true, but it's just plausible enough that people use it as a justification for tax credits and people accept it. It's kind of like - just like a scary movie - the more you want to believe it, the more real it seems."

Economist John Quiggin originally coined the term "zombie economics" in his 2010 book by that name.

In related zombie news, this Saturday, Oct. 18, Denver will host what it hopes to be the largest Zombie Crawl in history at Skyline Park. The event benefits the Bonfils Blood Center.


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