[Shocker] 50 Years of Tax Cuts for the Rich Failed to Trickle Down

I’m not a fan of trickle down economics by any means, or ridiculous tax cuts either, but there’s a middle ground. To tax a lot of these well run industries like crazy so big govt that runs things with the inefficiencies of the DPS or your VA can burn that money isn’t the answer either.

 

These trillion dollar stimulus packages that come once or twice with every president since Bush II probably don't do much for wealth inequality. 1.9 Trillion total dished out, average Joe gets 1400. Seems to be a disparity there.

Doubling the standard deduction helped your working stiff more than this.

 

It depends on where the money is going.

If it all goes to direct cash payments to the people, then it's fine and doesn't affect wealth inequality negatively... but if a big chunk goes to large corporations, with the hope that the stimulus will trickle down to the employees... we'll we've seen how that story plays out.

 

I think the figures from the upcoming stimulus and all the past have had tbe same wealth inequality results.

 

I’d have to check the numbers. What percentage of Trumps 1.8 trill economic package went to direct payment checks? 400 billion?

 

Less than that.

 

They spend the money they get. It won't be fixed simply by giving them money.

 

Lets try to mix it up. Every one out of 5 of these trillion dollar stimulus is direct payments to the poors instead of pork.

 

Yeah and that’s ultimately the problem with the stimulus packages exasperating wealth inequality. Vast majority of the package isn’t direct payment, when the money goes through the corporations to pay their employees, surprise surprise, the workers see a fraction of it. The stimulus packages are trickle down packages. Turns out the wealthy are experts on extracting wealth.

Some money will be a sunk cost, like testing, medical care, and may others things, but it’s clear with the way billionaires have had their wealth collectively sky rocket, the American people got scammed yet again.

Direct payments aren’t the problem, working class people see 100% of that, it’s the rest of the package.

 

Basically. The more popular, frequent and sizeable they get the bigger the problem.

 

The problem I have is when they also give huge tax cuts to corporations and in turn corporations give it to shareholders or larger bonuses to executives. I saw that some companies will throw a bone, like give a one time bonus to their workers, but in the grand scheme of things, we need to encourage increasing wages and benefits. As tax payers we shouldn't be expected to provide healthcare and other entitlements to Walmart workers, when Walmart can definitely afford to do so themselves, but they just avoid it.

 

How about if the fool that believed in trickle down was the majority shareholder that got even richer?

 

Well, it hurt plenty of working stiffs as well. Those changes caused my taxes to increase not decrease. I know many others in education that had the same result. It did obviously help some. But along with those were enormous gains for the wealthiest.

I don't like how the current proposed stimulus is structured. I would rather the cash to people would be targeted. Increase the size. Or at least give those people their money first. Then after we have more people getting the vaccinations and the economy is able to start opening up more, then dish out the stimulus to others so they can spread it around.

 

Republicans do a great job of messaging and this is another example. Their constituents know they are voting for trickle down economics because they believe they can be rich.

There is nothing wrong with having the belief of the possibility of wealth, however Republicans frame taxes as punishment against prosperity

 

https://livingwage.mit.edu/

 

This is the rub..

I think the ideological belief that just less taxes and government is a good thing is flawed. At the same time an ideological view that government should be taxing more and essentially regulating wealth I don't think is a good idea either. The problem is where do we find the proper balance?

I will agree that in the last few decades we've gone too far and the GW Bush tax cut and especially the Trump tax cuts were unneeded and have only exacerbated the problems. I think a call to return to the levels of taxation and regulation to the point that we had in the 60's and 70's could lead to problems such as stagflation that we haven't seen since then.