How about some "Trickle Up" Economics for a change?

[ThomWV]

I'm sick and tired of the Reagan Trickle Down economic failure. Enough of this nonsense of giving massive tax advantages to the super wealthy, the masters of Corporate America with the promise that the resulting prosperity at the top will find its way to the bottom. How about a switch in the tax policy of this country. Lets have massive tax advantages for the poor to the middle. It will then trickle up but dam it, lets tax it on its way! I don't mind people getting wealthy. I think the best and the brightest will always do well in a prospering economy. There were millionaires in this country when the marginal tax rate was 90% and serious estate taxes still existed. The rich will tell you they already pay the greatest portion of the taxes collected, OK then I must presume the meager contribution the poor to middle class are already making shouldn't be missed. Lets get tax rates for the super wealth back where they should be and lets eliminate the myriad of special structures in the tax law that allow so much money to go untaxed for those of great income. Its time for a little "Trickle Up" for a change.

[Captain Hilts]

1. It's a splendid idea!

FDR: Dontcha love it?
ER: Yes, a grand idea!

[PDJane]

2. Trickle up economics is what we have .......

That's where the rich have been getting their assets in the first damn place...and there's been a lot of misinformation and outright fraud perpetrated on the poor.

It's time for levelling the playing field and taxing assets, instead of labour.

[Initech]

3. I have an idea for that:

We should impose a "luxury item tax", where anyone who pays six figures for a single item (ie Cindy McCain's $280,000 earrings) should be required to pay at least that much in taxes. That will make them think twice about spending on such lavish items.

[Cleita]

5. It was tried before and you are right, they will think twice about

buying luxury items and find ways to get them without paying taxes. A dirty little secret that people don't know about is the super wealthy seldom buy retail anyway. If Cindy has actually paid $280,000 for those earrings I will be surprised. Even though some appraiser has valued them at that price retail, doesn't mean she paid that. It doesn't accomplish what is needed and this is to make them part with some of that income and that you do by passing laws giving the unions the power to get better wages for their workers from the corporations and less for the CEO's et al and secondly you reinstate progressive taxation like we had back when we had a middle class. We also need to bring back a lot of our manufacturing base that has been lost so that people have good paying jobs that give them money to spend and that boosts the economy.

A lot of the problems that we are seeing today is because people don't learn the lessons from history. Those of us who know about the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression could see that our government was going down that same path again and the baby boomers were following along because they didn't bother to learn their history lessons.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

4. i get tired of the "income redistribution" lie-

it is only "income redistribution" when the money is flowing down, but if a insurance company executive makes a million or a billion and working class people cannot afford health care, or go bankrupt after one health crisis, and after paying for insurance their whole life, or if a working class joe cannot afford to even save up for retirement, or put his kid through college, meanwhile his CEO is making like 300 times what he is, it is called capitalism. I say call it what it is and that is income redistribution to from us to the mega rich.

[Cleita]

6. Right on. Also welfare for the rich is in play here too.

They are the real welfare queens.

[CrispyQ]

7. You never build anything from the top down.

Why did Americans think we could build our economy that way? Oh yeah, slick talker Reagan made them fearful of the Cadillac welfare queens who might get a couple of hundred bucks a month they didn't deserve. Did anyone ever find one of those frickin' Cadillac queens? I worked at a grocery store during that time & I never saw one. I'll also bet that 99% of them would have happily traded their welfare checks & food stamps for a good paying job. However, there's no problem with giving multi-billion bailouts to corporations & paying the incompetent CEOs huge bonuses on their way out the door.

Have I fallen down a fucking rabbit hole?

[adamuu]

8. K&R