I think it raises an interesting question. Conservative economists (and Republicans in general) cling to their economic dogma in spite of decades (centuries?) of empirical evidence that it's wrong. Why? Why won't they admit their errors? Why won't they revise their theories to incorporate real-world experience?
More generally, why is it so nearly unthinkable for Republicans to admit to errors about anything? It seems like once Republicans take a stance, they are entrenched no matter how much factual evidence contradicts them. Is it willful mendacity, i.e., they know they're wrong but must not admit it, or is it cognitive dissonance where they are simply unable to process the contrary evidence in front of them?
Your thoughts?
Because it can and will be used against you, Republicans haven't forgotten what happened to George Bush Senior when he backtracked on his promise and raised taxes in cooperation with a Democrat congress which was used against him during reelection even though it was the right thing to do,
and not just in politics but in corporate boardrooms, government offices, etc., admitting you were wrong is tantamount to weakness in an unforgiving culture where someone is gunning for your job/position and will use it against you even though it might have been the right thing to do.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...age-with-1990-tax-hikes-idUSBREA4308G20140505
George H.W. Bush honored for courage with 1990 tax hikes
BOSTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush showed courage in breaking his “read my lips: no new taxes” campaign pledge to broker a 1990 budget compromise that may have cost him re-election two years later, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said on Sunday.
The organization honored the 41st U.S. president with its 2014 Profile in Courage Award, praising the Republican leader’s “decision to put country above party and political prospects” in the deal with congressional Democrats.
“America’s gain was President Bush’s loss,” Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former president John F. Kennedy and a member of the award committee, said during a ceremony at the library in Boston.
Bush did not attend the event. Granddaughter Lauren Bush Lauren, niece of former president George W. Bush, accepted the award on her grandfather’s behalf.
“Candidly speaking, my grandfather did not want to raise taxes in 1990,” she said. “But in our constitutional system of governance, Congress also gets a say - and more than that, he felt he owed the American people action and results.”
The foundation also honored Paul W. Bridges, a former Georgia mayor, as co-recipient of the award for putting his mayoral career on the line to oppose a 2011 immigration bill aimed at pushing undocumented immigrants out of his state.