The Trickle Down Lie

[RunForTheRoses]

http://nypost.com/2014/01/09/de-blasio-the-trickle-down-lie/

[classhandicapper]

I think you have to think about these things in terms of long term vs. short term benefit and who benefits most.

My view is that trickle down is valid, but only over the very long term, and it benefits the rich MORE than the workers.

I can see how someone concerned about the short term or someone that thinks it's bad if some really rich dude makes a few million and he only gets a decent job out of it might think it's not working.

However, IMO, that's still a superior option than raising taxes on the rich, reducing their savings and investment in the economy, and handing their money over to the poor.

In the short term the latter might benefit the poor more, but over the long haul it seems obvious the goal should be to maximize savings and investment. That's where jobs and increasing standards of living come from for everyone. It's the rich that supply the engine and lifeblood of economic growth.

I don't care if some rich dude makes a few extra million as long as I get a decent job out of it. A handout is not going to help me long term. We just want to make sure they are investing in the US by making the business environment friendly here. Otherwise, they will invest in other countries. Then it is foreign workers that will benefit from their savings and investment.

[RunForTheRoses]

Here's another good article with a similar theme by Bill Bonner:

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/01/are-pope-francis-bill-de-blasio-and.html

[TJDave]

I don't care if some rich dude makes a few extra million as long as I get a decent job out of it.

Except that's not what's happening. The top tier wealthy are doing nothing except collecting wealth. Not risking anything to grow the economy.


We just want to make sure they are investing in the US by making the business environment friendly here. Otherwise, they will invest in other countries. Then it is foreign workers that will benefit from their savings and investment.

Over the last 30 years the government through tax policy and trade agreement has been encouraging off shore investment. Now, companies would rather invest outside the U.S. hiding profits and utilizing cheap labor. This needs to stop.

[HUSKER55]

IMHO, our government is the one to blame, well,...maybe us voters are.

When we were kids you could buy a $25 bond for around $15, if I recall, and in about ten years it was worth the $25 and you could keep it there earning the around 6%, if I recall.

Banks competed with that and a savings acount paid around 5%.

Who in the hell is going to save money under todays terms. Banks pay 2% and bonds don't pay at all.

If you could by a bond a month for $25 that paid 6% do you realize what you could retire on? Assuming I entered the correct data for future value, I get $1100.

Wouldn't that be a better deal than what we have. Suppose you bought one a week?

The business is out to make money. That is what capitalist do and that is good. I favor that.

But this trickle down is not going to work because the savings rate isn't even near the rate of inflation.

I believe in capitalism but I don't think trickle down will work in a global economy. Blaming the rich is not the way to go. We have a bad government. Our governemnt should be for increasing the savings sector by issuing those bonds at a high rate of interest.

That, IMHO would shift the wealth from a few banks to every bank and would give local banks more money to invest locally. Yes, they would have to seperte wheat from chaff more closly, but that is a good thing.

That would empower the middle class.

JMHO

[Ocala Mike]

When we were kids you could buy a $25 bond for around $15...



Maybe I was a kid earlier than you. The cost in my day was $18.75, and I used to buy one a month religiously while I was in the service (mid-60's). I don't remember what the maturity time was, perhaps around 7 years, because I cashed them all in prior to maturity when I got out of the service in 1968.

[HUSKER55]

you are probably correct. Like the other parts of my body, memory is failing too. :D

[Tom]

Ross Perot was right.
Everyone elected since he lost has been either a liar, a thief, of a mental defective.

Everybody.

Our worst enemy is not Al Qeada - it is our own government.

[classhandicapper]

Except that's not what's happening. The top tier wealthy are doing nothing except collecting wealth. Not risking anything to grow the economy.




Over the last 30 years the government through tax policy and trade agreement has been encouraging off shore investment. Now, companies would rather invest outside the U.S. hiding profits and utilizing cheap labor. This needs to stop.

I generally agree with you first assertion, but it's mostly because the opportunities became more attractive overseas after communism fell and cheap labor and new markets were opened. So it did work, just not very well for Americans. Some of the hostility towards business we've seen recently does not help.

If you have a VERY LONG TERM view, you could argue that as former 3rd world countries get wealthier, it will eventually help the US too by creating wealthier consumers. Of course, I'll probably be dead of old age by then. :lol:

[JustRalph]

Yeah, this trickle "up" plan is working so well

[Clocker]

Yeah, this trickle "up" plan is working so well

Obama misunderstood and thought it was "tinkle up", so he was trying to pee on the rich. Now he is finding out that what goes up, must come down.