Show me the puddle

By Mike Sand

I personally think that the concept of Trickle Down Economics Is a huge con. The mistake starts innocently enough with equating the qualities of water with the qualities of money. Water flows downhill, always has, always will.

Money is taken or sent to where it collects. True, a little money is sent down from the rich, who store it, to the poor, who consume it. But only a trickle of the whole amount is moved. We should make ourselves aware of this because “trickle down” is portrayed as a good thing. In reality, it is shameful.

Ronald Reagan is credited with coming up with the concept in the 1980’s, however it goes back to the 1930’s and Will Rogers. It’s a pretty safe bet with Will Rogers using the term, that it wasn’t especially complimentary. The Republicans have gotten a lot out of this misdirection. They continue to cause the average American Republican to vote counter to his own wellbeing. Just say the words “tax cut” and you own them.

To give a tax break to those who already have more money than they can spend, accomplishes exactly Jack Squat. The Federal revenue which is lost by these tax breaks must be made up, and it will be, by people who can’t be heard. The poor and middle classes will have to cough it up.

The very rich: Jeff Bezos with nearly $200B, Elon Musk with $251.6B, Mark Zuckerberg with $177.3B, cannot spend all the money they already have, though Musk may manage to lose all his. The money they can’t spend is money that no one can spend. It’s out of circulation, in a vault somewhere. And if they were to spend it on more business enterprises and hire more employees, a lot of the profits from those businesses would also disappear into those same vaults and be out of play as well. Note that Bezos and Musk are not ideal employers. They have proven to be a mite stingy.

So don’t waste time looking for much of a puddle at the feet of any working men or women. If you find any moisture at all, it’s probably sweat.