SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
There are now decades of evidence that trickle-down economics doesn't work. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto via Getty Images
You Can't Fight Inflation With Even More Giveaways to the Rich
Trickle down economics has never worked, but the GOP is trying to force it on voters anyway.
https://otherwords.org/tackling-inflation-by-rewarding-the-rich-is-a-fools-erra…
Oct 27, 2022
British Prime Minister Liz Truss recently resigned after just 45 days in office, disgraced by her own economic prescriptions. There's a lesson here for the United States, a nation beset by similar economic troubles.
Lower tax rates on the wealthy aren't correlated with economic growth, job creation, or higher wages. All that happens is the rich get richer.
The main takeaway? Tackling inflation by rewarding the rich is a fool's errand.
Fashioning herself after Margaret Thatcher, the godmother of conservative capitalism, Truss pushed a "mini-budget" centered on major tax cuts for the wealthiest in Britain with no plan for how to compensate for the loss in revenues.
This triggered a "market freefall and spooked global investors," The Guardian's economic correspondent Richard Partington explains. The British pound plummeted in value, the Bank of England had to intervene, and Truss was swiftly forced to resign.
The U.K. may have had enough of Thatcherism. But the same farce of "helping the poor" by ensuring the rich get richer is still alive and well in the United States.
President Ronald Reagan promoted this ludicrous concept in the 1980s as perhaps the grandest grift of all time, overseeing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and an aggressive deregulatory agenda for corporations. When "Reagan took office in 1981, the marginal tax rate for the highest income bracket was 70 percent," reports the Center for American Progress. "That fell to just 28 percent by the time he left office."
There are now decades of evidence that trickle-down economics doesn't work. Lower tax rates on the wealthy aren't correlated with economic growth, job creation, or higher wages. All that happens is the rich get richer.
Still, today's Republicans aggressively push the same policies. Recall the 2017 Trump tax cuts for the wealthy. That bill continued what Reagan started and, like its predecessors, failed to create jobs or raise wages.
Although both Republican and Democratic presidents have embraced "Reaganomics" in the past, that's now changing. President Biden has repeatedly condemned the idea, tweeting as recently as this September: "I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked."
And yet trickle-down economics is very much on the ballot this year.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has published a plan, very thin on specifics, to fix the nation's economic woes if his party wins majorities. A one-page description of his plan includes a vague prescription to "bring stability to the economy through pro-growth tax and deregulatory policies."
In other words, trickle down enthusiasts are yet again promising to deliver a wolf in sheep's clothing.
They may have some help. Blowing wind into their sails is the corporate media, insisting that worries over inflation could help Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress -- in spite of decades of evidence that the GOP has a record of economic failures and no new plan to offer.
More disturbingly, the GOP has rigged elections in its favor with a cunning combination of gerrymandered districts and voting laws that thwart likely Democratic voters. In Florida, Republican governor Ron DeSantis has even started arresting Black voters he claims are casting ballots illegally.
If Truss's spectacular fall should teach Americans anything, it's that trickle-down will fail again. But if the backers of this failed economic model succeed in damaging our democracy, it could take us much longer than 45 days to change course.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Sonali Kolhatkar
Sonali Kolhatkar is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-Director of the non-profit group, Afghan Women's Mission. She has a Master's in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from The University of Texas at Austin. Watch her 2014 Tedx talk, My journey from astrophysicist to radio host. She can be reached at www.sonalikolhatkar.com
British Prime Minister Liz Truss recently resigned after just 45 days in office, disgraced by her own economic prescriptions. There's a lesson here for the United States, a nation beset by similar economic troubles.
Lower tax rates on the wealthy aren't correlated with economic growth, job creation, or higher wages. All that happens is the rich get richer.
The main takeaway? Tackling inflation by rewarding the rich is a fool's errand.
Fashioning herself after Margaret Thatcher, the godmother of conservative capitalism, Truss pushed a "mini-budget" centered on major tax cuts for the wealthiest in Britain with no plan for how to compensate for the loss in revenues.
This triggered a "market freefall and spooked global investors," The Guardian's economic correspondent Richard Partington explains. The British pound plummeted in value, the Bank of England had to intervene, and Truss was swiftly forced to resign.
The U.K. may have had enough of Thatcherism. But the same farce of "helping the poor" by ensuring the rich get richer is still alive and well in the United States.
President Ronald Reagan promoted this ludicrous concept in the 1980s as perhaps the grandest grift of all time, overseeing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and an aggressive deregulatory agenda for corporations. When "Reagan took office in 1981, the marginal tax rate for the highest income bracket was 70 percent," reports the Center for American Progress. "That fell to just 28 percent by the time he left office."
There are now decades of evidence that trickle-down economics doesn't work. Lower tax rates on the wealthy aren't correlated with economic growth, job creation, or higher wages. All that happens is the rich get richer.
Still, today's Republicans aggressively push the same policies. Recall the 2017 Trump tax cuts for the wealthy. That bill continued what Reagan started and, like its predecessors, failed to create jobs or raise wages.
Although both Republican and Democratic presidents have embraced "Reaganomics" in the past, that's now changing. President Biden has repeatedly condemned the idea, tweeting as recently as this September: "I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked."
And yet trickle-down economics is very much on the ballot this year.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has published a plan, very thin on specifics, to fix the nation's economic woes if his party wins majorities. A one-page description of his plan includes a vague prescription to "bring stability to the economy through pro-growth tax and deregulatory policies."
In other words, trickle down enthusiasts are yet again promising to deliver a wolf in sheep's clothing.
They may have some help. Blowing wind into their sails is the corporate media, insisting that worries over inflation could help Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress -- in spite of decades of evidence that the GOP has a record of economic failures and no new plan to offer.
More disturbingly, the GOP has rigged elections in its favor with a cunning combination of gerrymandered districts and voting laws that thwart likely Democratic voters. In Florida, Republican governor Ron DeSantis has even started arresting Black voters he claims are casting ballots illegally.
If Truss's spectacular fall should teach Americans anything, it's that trickle-down will fail again. But if the backers of this failed economic model succeed in damaging our democracy, it could take us much longer than 45 days to change course.
Sonali Kolhatkar
Sonali Kolhatkar is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-Director of the non-profit group, Afghan Women's Mission. She has a Master's in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from The University of Texas at Austin. Watch her 2014 Tedx talk, My journey from astrophysicist to radio host. She can be reached at www.sonalikolhatkar.com
British Prime Minister Liz Truss recently resigned after just 45 days in office, disgraced by her own economic prescriptions. There's a lesson here for the United States, a nation beset by similar economic troubles.
Lower tax rates on the wealthy aren't correlated with economic growth, job creation, or higher wages. All that happens is the rich get richer.
The main takeaway? Tackling inflation by rewarding the rich is a fool's errand.
Fashioning herself after Margaret Thatcher, the godmother of conservative capitalism, Truss pushed a "mini-budget" centered on major tax cuts for the wealthiest in Britain with no plan for how to compensate for the loss in revenues.
This triggered a "market freefall and spooked global investors," The Guardian's economic correspondent Richard Partington explains. The British pound plummeted in value, the Bank of England had to intervene, and Truss was swiftly forced to resign.
The U.K. may have had enough of Thatcherism. But the same farce of "helping the poor" by ensuring the rich get richer is still alive and well in the United States.
President Ronald Reagan promoted this ludicrous concept in the 1980s as perhaps the grandest grift of all time, overseeing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and an aggressive deregulatory agenda for corporations. When "Reagan took office in 1981, the marginal tax rate for the highest income bracket was 70 percent," reports the Center for American Progress. "That fell to just 28 percent by the time he left office."
There are now decades of evidence that trickle-down economics doesn't work. Lower tax rates on the wealthy aren't correlated with economic growth, job creation, or higher wages. All that happens is the rich get richer.
Still, today's Republicans aggressively push the same policies. Recall the 2017 Trump tax cuts for the wealthy. That bill continued what Reagan started and, like its predecessors, failed to create jobs or raise wages.
Although both Republican and Democratic presidents have embraced "Reaganomics" in the past, that's now changing. President Biden has repeatedly condemned the idea, tweeting as recently as this September: "I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked."
And yet trickle-down economics is very much on the ballot this year.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has published a plan, very thin on specifics, to fix the nation's economic woes if his party wins majorities. A one-page description of his plan includes a vague prescription to "bring stability to the economy through pro-growth tax and deregulatory policies."
In other words, trickle down enthusiasts are yet again promising to deliver a wolf in sheep's clothing.
They may have some help. Blowing wind into their sails is the corporate media, insisting that worries over inflation could help Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress -- in spite of decades of evidence that the GOP has a record of economic failures and no new plan to offer.
More disturbingly, the GOP has rigged elections in its favor with a cunning combination of gerrymandered districts and voting laws that thwart likely Democratic voters. In Florida, Republican governor Ron DeSantis has even started arresting Black voters he claims are casting ballots illegally.
If Truss's spectacular fall should teach Americans anything, it's that trickle-down will fail again. But if the backers of this failed economic model succeed in damaging our democracy, it could take us much longer than 45 days to change course.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.