voodoo economics
2
9.4
- noun
- /ˈvuːduː ˌɛkəˈnɑːmɪks/
- Literature
:
economía voodoo
- Critics argue that the proposed tax cuts are just an example of voodoo economics, relying on false promises of growth.
- voodoo economics of Reagan
- cuts in voodoo economics
- tax plan as voodoo economics
Examples
-
That the rich are "job creators" and that supply-side voodoo economics works; we just haven't had enough of it yet.
Blog text (26) -
Mitt Romney and his "voodoo economics" of lowering taxes and raising military spending while lying about how that will close the deficit is reminiscent
Blog text (29) -
Voodoo economics is a failure.
Blog text (28) -
Bush attacked the Reagan economic agenda as "voodoo economics."
Blog text (33) -
Remember Voodoo Economics?
Blog text (16) -
The current federal government in DC evidently does not consider these economics; they have redefined voodoo economics!
Blog text (25) -
Now a dozen years of voodoo economics have helped put us all in the soup, but is there a memorable phrase that links our problems with Ronald Reagan?
Fiction book (1995) -
First popularized by Ronald Reagan, supply-side economics was also called voodoo economics by George Bush 41, and is now often known as trickle-down economics.
Blog text (18) -
Has not worked... surely we recall the recent 2008 W/GOP recession, if not the 1929 HH/GOP depression... trickle-down, voodoo economics won't work.
Blog text (7) -
Since the eighties, when supply-side trickle-down voodoo economics came into vogue, the federal taxes on the super wealthy, as a trend, have been decreasing. In fact, the top federal income tax rate has just about been cut in half since the seventies.
Blog text (26)
Surface Forms
Morphology
voodoo + economics
The compound can be parsed compositionally: 'voodoo' (understood as magically superstitious or pseudoscientific) modifying 'economics' yields a critique of economic policies as magical or unrealistic, so a learner who knows both constituents can often infer the intended figurative meaning. However, the usage is metaphorical and relies on cultural/pejorative connotations of 'voodoo' that a B1 learner may not know or expect, so the relation is not fully predictable.
Etymology
The term voodoo economics uses voodoo (a kind of magic) and economics (money policy) as a picture to show a plan seems to work by magic rather than by real facts. So people use it to say a policy is 'unrealistic' or based on 'wishful thinking'.