When President Reagan dusted off trickle-down economics, calling it “supply-side economics,” I was shocked. My 1962-1963 high school history class recognized “trickle-down” economics as a major contributing factor to the Great Depression’s severity.
Before the 1929, trickle-down polices had led to extreme concentrations of wealth. During the Depression, economic royalty had money to invest, but didn’t. America had workers, factories and raw-materials, but Americans couldn’t afford the products they produced. Hence, managers laid off workers, cut wages, lowered both production and demand, and the economy spiraled down.
Since Reagan, wages have stagnated, while new wealth goes to the top 1/10th percent.
Economist Robert Reich’s documentary “Inequality for All” demonstrates that income inequality is as high now as it was before the Great Depression. And now Republicans offer the same failed solution: tax cuts to the wealthy so they will create jobs? Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. “Trickle-down” is just a rationalization for concentrating wealth/power, and is fundamentally undemocratic.
Four-hundred of the wealthiest Americans have as much wealth as the bottom 61 percent of Americans: 194 million people. Do they really need more? An unknown wise man asked, “Is feeding all the oats to the horse, the best way to feed the birds?”
Based on his voting record, Dave Reichert supports the Republican Party’s efforts to concentrate wealth/power and not the middle class. It’s time to find a representative who recognizes the failures of the past and supports policies providing economic prosperity for all.
– Roger Ledbetter
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