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50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

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Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#11

Post by dragonwriter »

pkaye wrote: post #6

Wouldn't trickle up economics work better? Poor people have more unmet needs and more likely to spend any extra they get into the economy.

> Wouldn't trickle up economics work better?

It depends on what you mean by “work better”.

If your goal is to further enrich the capitalist class while building a quasi-religious doctrine that results in failure of the working classes to see progress resulting in popular pressure to even further enrich the capitalist class, no.

If you have a different goal than the people promoting trickle-down theory, then, sure, maybe.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#12

Post by NiceWayToDoIT »

This is not a new thing for those who are fighting for better wealth distribution, but despite raising many voices in UK, politicians who create policies still use the same excuse to pump huge amounts of cash to the rich people. In that regards maybe this study is an important step toward change.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#13

Post by imtringued »

mikestew wrote: post #4

Perhaps I'm having a Mandela Effect moment, but hasn't "trickle down" been debunked before this study...repeatedly? Not just "no shit", but actual studies and stuff? Regardless, Will Rogers is credited with the phrase "trickle down" to refer to supply-side economics, so it has gone on longer than 50 years. Mr. Rogers also did not mean the turn of phrase to be complimentary.

It's just an excuse to justify selfish tax policy that favors the wealthy. It obviously doesn't work because the wealthy don't have to invest into domestic jobs. They can also use their money abroad. If you give them more money they are just going to spend more of it outside your country.

The opposite is also true. The vast majority of consumers spend their money domestically. Yes the products they buy are often imports but in many cases a big chunk of the money goes to cashiers, delivery drivers and so on.

Of course I am simplifying this a bit. In theory the roles can switch and business owners spend more domestically and consumers spend more abroad but as it is right now the rich just invest into Chinese businesses or production capacity in China. Think of companies like Tesla building factories in China.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#14

Post by AnimalMuppet »

dragonwriter wrote: post #11
pkaye wrote: post #6

Wouldn't trickle up economics work better? Poor people have more unmet needs and more likely to spend any extra they get into the economy.

> Wouldn't trickle up economics work better? It depends on what you mean by “work better”. If your goal is to further enrich the capitalist class while building a quasi-religious doctrine that results in failure of the working classes to see progress resulting in popular pressure to even further enrich the capitalist class, no. If you have a different goal than the people promoting trickle-down theory, then, sure, ma…

You could think of UBI as "trickle up". The money starts at the bottom, not at the top.

Mind you, I'm not necessarily sold on UBI. But I think this is an interesting way to look at it.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#15

Post by AnimalMuppet »

hilbert42 wrote: post #8

This fact was obvious long before 50 years ago! For starters, just go back to Marx and Engels in the 1840s. The longstanding problem with that trickle down argument is and has always been that the rich have always had the money to: (a) effectively lobby politicians into accepting that viewpoint, and or (b) becoming politicians thus enabling them to enact laws that benefit themselves directly, and (c) to purge or whit…

And the Paul Krugmans.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#16

Post by hilbert42 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #15
hilbert42 wrote: post #8

This fact was obvious long before 50 years ago! For starters, just go back to Marx and Engels in the 1840s. The longstanding problem with that trickle down argument is and has always been that the rich have always had the money to: (a) effectively lobby politicians into accepting that viewpoint, and or (b) becoming politicians thus enabling them to enact laws that benefit themselves directly, and (c) to purge or whit…

And the Paul Krugmans.

Yeah, unfortunately that whole trade matter got well out of hand before any of us realized it.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#17

Post by eloff »

I'm really curious how many of our democracies fail in this specific case. There aren't a lot of wealthy people, so if politicians are pandering to the majority, this is the wrong call. It's well known not to work for a long time, so logically it's also the wrong call. Are most politicians wealthy? Is that why they seem to overly protect the interests of this group over the rest of the population? Straight up self-interest or corruption?

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#18

Post by ardy42 »

pmiller2 wrote: post #7
mikestew wrote: post #4

Perhaps I'm having a Mandela Effect moment, but hasn't "trickle down" been debunked before this study...repeatedly? Not just "no shit", but actual studies and stuff? Regardless, Will Rogers is credited with the phrase "trickle down" to refer to supply-side economics, so it has gone on longer than 50 years. Mr. Rogers also did not mean the turn of phrase to be complimentary.

It has, but half the country still hasn't gotten that message.

> It has, but half the country still hasn't gotten that message.

That's at least partially because the wealthy have the means to hire lots of smart people to create sophisticatedly misleading propaganda for them, and make sure it's widely disseminated and influential.

Re: 50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

#20

Post by slindz »

eloff wrote: post #17

I'm really curious how many of our democracies fail in this specific case. There aren't a lot of wealthy people, so if politicians are pandering to the majority, this is the wrong call. It's well known not to work for a long time, so logically it's also the wrong call. Are most politicians wealthy? Is that why they seem to overly protect the interests of this group over the rest of the population? Straight up self-in…

From my perspective, it costs an awful lot of money to run for office. If the only way to reach office is to convince wealthy people to fund your campaign, it shouldn't be a surprise if their interests wind up getting preferred treatment.
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