Trickle Down Economics

[JackRT]

Trickle Down Economics is an economic theory that the poor, who are forced to subsist on morsels of food that fall from the tables of the rich, are best served by giving the rich more food.

 

[Ken-1122]

Trickle Down Economics is an economic theory that the poor, who are forced to subsist on morsels of food that fall from the tables of the rich,

Nobody is forced to live off the crumbs of the rich, they are free to go out and make their OWN food!

are best served by giving the rich more food.

No it says they are best served by taking away less of the food the rich made for themselves. Taking away less of somebody's property does not equal to giving them more.

 

[hedrick]

Trickle Down Economics is an economic theory that the poor, who are forced to subsist on morsels of food that fall from the tables of the rich, are best served by giving the rich more food.

Unfortunately this statement of the theory is so absurd that it doesn't lead to useful discussion.

The traditional form of the theory is that tax cuts on wealthy will generate enough revenue to pay for themselves. That's known not to be true. That kind of claim was made for a couple of past Republican tax cuts.

But as far as I know, the most recent tax cut isn't actually an example of trickle-down economics. There were some claims that it would stimulate the economy, but no serious attempts to maintain that it would pay for itself, or even that it was a cost-effective way of producing the benefit it was supposed to produce.

 

[Pooja Sadhu]

Trickle Down Economics is an economic theory that the poor, who are forced to subsist on morsels of food that fall from the tables of the rich, are best served by giving the rich more food.

If poor people are tired of being poor and want to improve their situation in life, what is stopping them from going to community college or trade school and getting the credentials they need for a better job and income? You seem to think that poor people are helpless and the rich have a monopoly on wealth, neither of which is true. The government isn’t meant to be humanity’s marsupial.

 

[JackRT]

If poor people are tired of being poor and want to improve their situation in life, what is stopping them from going to community college or trade school and getting the credentials they need for a better job and income?

Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. Let me give an example. In my town there is a young couple with a child. He works two part time jobs and she works one. All jobs are minimum wage with no benefits. They have no transportation so they would have to move to get to college or trade school. And then there is tuition. They would have to find new jobs to fit around the hours at school. The issue is money.

You seem to think that poor people are helpless and the rich have a monopoly on wealth, neither of which is true.

The poor are not completely helpless but they do have the deck stacked against them. The rich do not have a complete monopoly on wealth but they do control most of it. Moreover they also control most of the access to it as well.

I regard your comments as somewhat naïve.

The government isn’t meant to be humanity’s marsupial.

That is a clever comment!

 

[Pooja Sadhu]

Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. Let me give an example. In my town there is a young couple with a child. He works two part time jobs and she works one. All jobs are minimum wage with no benefits. They have no transportation so they would have to move to get to college or trade school. And then there is tuition. They would have to find new jobs to fit around the hours at school. The issue is money.



The poor are not completely helpless but they do have the deck stacked against them. The rich do not have a complete monopoly on wealth but they do control most of it. Moreover they also control most of the access to it as well.

I regard your comments as somewhat naïve.



That is a clever comment!

All you did was criticize the supposed ignorance of my comments, but you didn’t suggest a solution. You say poor people have the deck stacked against them and must work two jobs to support themselves (and they don’t have the means to attend trade school), but what do you think should be done about it? Should rich people be taxed at 95% of their income and the proceeds go to “poor” people? (I use the term “poor” loosely. The couple you mentioned is rich by world standards. Here in India, we have people living in ghetto shanty towns without running water or electricity alongside well-off educated Indians like myself who live in nice condos. Have you even seen what true poverty looks like?)

 

[Speedwell]

All you did was criticize the supposed ignorance of my comments, but you didn’t suggest a solution. You say poor people have the deck stacked against them and must work two jobs to support themselves (and they don’t have the means to attend trade school), but what do you think should be done about it? Should rich people be taxed at 95% of their income and the proceeds go to “poor” people? (I use the term “poor” loosely. The couple you mentioned is rich by world standards. Here in India, we have people living in ghetto shanty towns without running water or electricity alongside well-off educated Indians like myself who live in nice condos. Have you even seen what true poverty looks like?)

Are you bragging about it?

 

[Pooja Sadhu]

Are you bragging about it?

Bragging about what?

 

[Speedwell]

Bragging about what?

How much poorer and more miserable the poor people of your country are than the poor people in the US

 

[Pooja Sadhu]

How much poorer and more miserable the poor people of your country are than the poor people in the US

I'm not.

 

[jacks]

I'm not.

She is correct and just stating a fact. The level of poverty in some other countries, is something we never see here in the United States.

 

[JackRT]

All you did was criticize the supposed ignorance of my comments, but you didn’t suggest a solution. You say poor people have the deck stacked against them and must work two jobs to support themselves (and they don’t have the means to attend trade school), but what do you think should be done about it? Should rich people be taxed at 95% of their income and the proceeds go to “poor” people? (I use the term “poor” loosely. The couple you mentioned is rich by world standards. Here in India, we have people living in ghetto shanty towns without running water or electricity alongside well-off educated Indians like myself who live in nice condos. Have you even seen what true poverty looks like?)

Yes, I have personally witnessed true poverty.

As a Canadian I can think of a few things that would help. For a start free post secondary education would help immensely with scholarship money redirected toward other financial needs. The increasing disparity between rich and poor is another problem that needs to be addressed.

 

[Speedwell]

She is correct and just stating a fact. The level of poverty in some other countries, is something we never see here in the United States.

That is correct, and we don't want to see it here, either.

 

[Pooja Sadhu]

Yes, I have personally witnessed true poverty.

As a Canadian I can think of a few things that would help. For a start free post secondary education would help immensely with scholarship money redirected toward other financial needs. The increasing disparity between rich and poor is another problem that needs to be addressed.

If people are poor, how does it affect you personally? You still work a job, have a family and family life, and live like a normal person. The fact that poor people exist shouldn’t interfere with your work, family, and everyday living. Why then is it such a concern? Myself, I live an ordinary life, and the presence of poor people in my country and around the world doesn’t make my living experiences any different. Why do you feel the need to get the government involved with helping impoverished people instead of letting them help themselves? Does it affect you personally that much?

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

There's a pretty well-reasoned argument that what works best for the economy up to a certain point is "trickle-up economics". As the poorest people cannot afford to save and generally are forced to spend all they have, providing them with more money (either directly or via subsidies or other inputs such as free education) results in them putting that money directly back into the economy, whereas in the case of "trickle down" the rich can afford (and generally do) stash their money in savings rather than spend it.

Of course, that principle doesn't hold forever (give someone lots of money for little effort and they'll stop being productive), however well-thought-out policies can make a large impact.

On an international level, the Colombo Plan and Marshall Plan worked on these principles

 

[Dryskale]

If people are poor, how does it affect you personally? You still work a job, have a family and family life, and live like a normal person. The fact that poor people exist shouldn’t interfere with your work, family, and everyday living. Why then is it such a concern? Myself, I live an ordinary life, and the presence of poor people in my country and around the world doesn’t make my living experiences any different. Why do you feel the need to get the government involved with helping impoverished people instead of letting them help themselves? Does it affect you personally that much?

I have witnessed and been part of various statuses in my own country and have witnessed true poverty. The issue that arises for me and the communities I have lived in have been differences in crime rates. The number of people that are relatively poor in an area tend to lend to a correlation of crimes rates related to drug and sex trafficking, theft, and gang violence. An issue with poverty is the relative rates a person has to being able to advance in society. If people have access to affordable housing, food, education, and work that can give a living wage the crime rates drop. The arguments over what specific tax plans need to be had. The general trend that the more opportunities for advancement the less general suffering that comes from crime, mental health, and malnutrition go down.

 

[HannahT]

Yes, I have personally witnessed true poverty.

As a Canadian I can think of a few things that would help. For a start free post secondary education would help immensely with scholarship money redirected toward other financial needs. The increasing disparity between rich and poor is another problem that needs to be addressed.

Many of us have personally witnessed true poverty.

There are programs for scholarship money for trade schools, etc. There are individuals everyday that take advantage of them, and are making their lives better.

Problem is nothing is free, and with 'free' programs you also have increased taxes. You have justify this to people, and it has to be done with more than shame tactics that are used to often today. They may say they are for it to your face, because they don't want to fight about it - yet in the ballot that comes up they will vote against it if you can't show people why this is important. Something today people just can't seem to do. Shame tactics are only effective in the short term, and you overuse them and people stop listening.

Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world. Let me give an example. In my town there is a young couple with a child. He works two part time jobs and she works one. All jobs are minimum wage with no benefits. They have no transportation so they would have to move to get to college or trade school. And then there is tuition. They would have to find new jobs to fit around the hours at school. The issue is money.

You also need to address many factors that that help keep people in poverty - besides the obvious that people bring up about lifestyle choices. I realize that is a taboo subject, but its still there. We have to acknowledge we have areas of generational poverty, and there is no hope there.

You can throw all your money at them, and they will not take advantage of it if they have no hope. Hope is more serious than people think. It's a essential ingredient needed, and our system has basically enabled lack of hope to flourish. It will take generations of work to change that. Evil and greedy corporations and rich people didn't create that environment - sadly our stupid government did for the most part. Their answer to raise taxes doesn't help with the hope factor but they would rather NOT go there - yet we have too. Hope may not bring the ideal world - we humans will never see that. Yet, this simple concept that people ignore has more power than most will admit.

 

[Bobber]

The poor are not completely helpless but they do have the deck stacked against them. The rich do not have a complete monopoly on wealth but they do control most of it. Moreover they also control most of the access to it as well.

Well I see you're a Christian Jack (as you say in your profile) Know this then God ultimately has a monopoly on wealth Ps 50:10 and if one calls out on him he'll make sure they're provided for. Perhaps not RICH as we might think by an earthly standard but it's written the Lord is our Sheppard and that we do not want.

 

[Bobber]

You also need to address many factors that that help keep people in poverty - besides the obvious that people bring up about lifestyle choices. I realize that is a taboo subject, but its still there. We have to acknowledge we have areas of generational poverty, and there is no hope there.

Very true. Much of the time people have no understanding on just what made many people rich. Sure there's always some who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth but many worked long and hard and were diligent beyond measure to achieve what the have.

If seen some who'd start with one small shop but they and their family would work 16 hours a day all living in the same house being fugal with their money not blowing it on stupid things and vain amusements and 20 years later they own half a city block!

I know of one business man who started working in a low position in a grocery store who'd start work at 6 am but his paying hours didn't start until 8. The boss asked him why he'd always do this and he replied he always wanted to keep his department up and be in good shape. They offered him promotion after promotion after promotion, in other words became wealthy.

I do agree some people are in tough situations but there is much of the time unjustified complaining of the system that it's not fair that the rich be so. The question is what were some of the others doing when they could have been diligent dong their best to make things happen?

 

[BryanJohnMaloney]

Trickle Down Economics is an economic theory that the poor, who are forced to subsist on morsels of food that fall from the tables of the rich, are best served by giving the rich more food.

You mean JFK's "a rising tide lifts all boats" economic principle...