It was in 2004 when Green
Day released American Idiot and the title track had revolutionary lyrics that I
cannot type here because they contain swear words. Despite that, it does not diminish how
accurate that title reflects people who still believe in Trump’s Trickle-Down
Economics policy.
Is that a new term for
you? You have never heard of
Trickle-Down Economics? Well, it is a
belief system where if the government cut taxes for corporations and the rich,
the rich will do the right thing and spread their wealth to the less fortunate
voluntarily. I mean, what is the worst
that could happen? They’ll keep it for
themselves? Poppycock! Balderdash!
Based on the Reuters
article titled “Trump’s Plan to Slash Business Taxes Seen as Guidepost by
Congressional Republicans”, President Donald Trump used one page to
half-heartedly explain tax cuts for the well-to-do, expecting them to supply
their wealth to the poor themselves.
Cool, Mother Theresa in business suits…
It is a Republican’s dream
come true and no matter where you stand on Trickle-Down Economics, it is
something everyone can relate to. We all
want to pay lesser taxes if we could. We
want to keep most of our salary earned.
We are already contributing to the EPF and saving for the future. Of course I want to keep more of my own
money. Yes, even socialists. They just decide to pay more because of their
own political beliefs.
But does Trickle-Down
Economics actually work? Before we even
answer that question, let’s answer an even more pressing question. Do we need it now? Wealth inequality is a huge issue right now
and when you implement Trickle-Down Economics, it will only make things
worse. The world’s eight richest people
have the same wealth as the poorest 50%.
That is not to say that the eight rich people are evil people who keep
money to themselves. Bill Gates and
Warren Buffet are liberals. However, it
does show how big the gap is between the really rich and the really poor.
Decreasing taxes means
decrease in spending and decrease in spending may lead to cuts to funding the
poor, the disabled and public goods. And
in terms of a Trump administration, it is a certainty. However, there is an argument that the rich
will use their income to help these people now instead of storing the cash in
their bank accounts.
Unfortunately, if anybody
is to benefit greatly from Trickle-Down Economics, it’s the Trumps. The New Daily published a report titled
“Ivanka Trump Clothing Linked with Sweatshop Factory” about how Ivanka’s
clothing line paid their workers in China slightly more than $4 an hour for
their work. That is well below the
average for a factory worker in that country.
Is this the family to trust Trickle-Down Economics with? Will Ivanka raise the wages? She has not even addressed this report yet. Her father’s cheapskate attitude was also
well-documented, not even paying the little girls who performed in his election
rally. Poor little girls who had to
dance for racist rednecks and still not get paid for it… They have to live with that guilt for the
rest of their lives.
Am I too harsh on
Trickle-Down Economics? Yes, I admit to
that most definitely. Trickle-Down
Economics is not a myth and it is not something new. It was implemented before. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush implemented
the policy. Surprisingly, it was
beneficial because the tax cuts moved the country out of a recession. Oh yeah, I’m shocked too.
However, we are not in a
recession now. Income inequality is the
biggest problem and Trickle-Down Economics will go on to make that worse. Between 1979 and 2005, the bottom fifth
earners saw their after-tax household income rose 6% but the top fifth saw
their income rise by 80%. This feels
like the prologue for the modern day Les Miserables. But since it will be set in America, we’ll
probably have Rap and Country music.
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