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I think "trickle down theory" is the biggest, and mo successful, "con job" ever played. After over 25 years, it is obvious that it hasn't worked out as they said it would, and yet people still believe it to be true.

First of all, the rich did not get rich by being benevolent. Giving them more will not mean they will decide to give more to those who labor in order to support their lifestyles. Giving them more provides no real incentive to do so. If i own a business and get a large tax break, but demand for my goods and services remain the same, i have no incentive to hire any new people. I just hve more money and thus more power because I have more money.

The really insidious part of the con is the idea that taxes have been cut. The rich pay less, but in order to make up for lost revenues, the federal government cuts funds that go to state and local governments. They in turn raise taxes and fee3s, which are paid for by the working poor and middle class. A tax cut for the rich is nto so much a tax cut as it is a transfer of the tax burden. You pay higher sales taxes, higher DMV fees, higher parking frees and higher fines for parking and moving violations, higher fees for licenses and IDs, taxes on untilties and utility fees also get increased. This is in par why your cell phone taxes are so high.

In addition, to increasing taxes on those who are nhto rich, they also reduce government services, maintenance on government lands and buildings and infrastructure maintenance. This is why they (Trump's people) want to raise the fees to visit poorly maintain national parks to as much as $75 per car.

Most peopel are aware that the most prosperous period int he U.S. with the largest increase in gross domestic product (GDP) and hte largest increase in the standard of living, was from teh end of World War II, through the early 1960's. The top tax rate during that period for the people in the very top tax bracket was 91%. Obviously high taxes on the rich didn't hurt the economy one bit.

The reason why the progressive tax system worked so well with a top rate of 91%, was that people only had to pay that tax if they took money out of their businesses and moved into their own personal wealth. They could avoid the high tax by reinvesting the money back into their businesses, which is what most people in that tax bracket did. They had incentive to grow their businesses and hire new people in order to avoid paying the higher taxes. That is the tneire purpose of the graduated progressive tax system, where the more money you make, in personal income, the higher you can be taxed. This tax system was proposed by Adam Smith in his book "The Wealth of Nations", in 1776, and ws the architecture of economic policy adopted by Alexander Hamilton, which was mostly followed, in the U.S. all the way up until Ronald Reagan flipped economics on its head, with "Supply Side Economics" out of which sprung, "Trickle Down Theory."

snytiger6 9 Dec 1
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8 comments

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0

Trickle Down is a Pyramid Scheme , Cut "&" Dried . That is why it is so unpopular . It needs to be called for what it is .

Dougy Level 7 Jan 16, 2018

It is unpopular because it hasn't done what they promised it would. Nothing ever trickled down since they began it over 35 years ago. All that has happened is the middle class has shrunk down towards the ranks fo the working poor. In the long run this is bad because the middle class is our consumer base, and once they are gone or just once a tipping point is reached, then the economy will collapse because the nobody will be able to afford to buy anything.

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I love that!

2

Politicians, or should I say Republicans know it’s BS … and they’re only fooling their own. Their goal is a continuing wealth transfer from the producer/ consumer class - to the industrialist overlords. Now, giving a Trillion more dollars to the least needy, they’ll have the ‘excuse’ they’ve long wanted to cut & gut social service programs… US Democracy has failed ~

Varn Level 8 Dec 2, 2017
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I just have to say that the trickle down/supple side economics thinking is yet another lack of understanding the exponential function.

3

Trickle down is actually a feudal way of distribution where there are serfs and lords. We still see this in many middle eastern countries with the oil revenues. These economies are pretty backwards and mainly ruled by fear. Personally i look forward to the day when the top rated of tax are increased again and the widening inequality we currently see is stopped. It is cruel and unnecessary.

Yeah, I sometimes refer to Supply Siode economics as "Neo-Feugalism". I think the rel motivation behind such a system is to consolidate power (and control over people) into just a few hands. When there is a lare middle class, their power is not so strong, as those in the middle class have quite a bit of freedom to do as they choose.. It isn't just bout money.

8

trickle down theory only works with golden showers

With the rumors about Trump and Russian prostitutes, I think that is appropriately humorous.

7

Excellent evaluation. Trickle down is the biggest load of horse shit ever shoveled. The sad thing is, people keep falling for it.

Supporters of trickle down are able to get away with selling this bill of goods because they keep promising tax cuts to the middle and lower classes. Sounds good, right? The ruse is up once one realizes that their tax cut amounts to about forty bucks a year while a billionaires tax cut amounts to hudreds of thousands. How exactly does that provide the lower and middle class with more money to help stimulate the economy?

5

I have said these things so many times. Nobody listens. Right wing Christians believe Republicans have favor with their god. With this thinking , u can't reason with that Rural White Protestant. I thought the Campaign with Will Farrell actually portrayed our country accurately.

It goes even deeper. The Koch brothers pay the right republicans to pander to the right wing Christians to gain votes to roll back environmental regulations. This means that in a fair stretch of the country, people are actually voting to kill themselves and their children. 200,000 tailpipe emission deaths every year. If you're going to be Christian, at least have some sense of objective morality.

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