DeviJusticeAug 30, 2023
Dan Wentzel 🏳️‍🌈

Look, we tried trickle-down economics for over forty years. It simply didn’t work. The national debt exploded and nothing trickled-down, so now we move on.

Stimulating the economy from the bottom up is clearly more effective. A rising tide should lift all boats, not just yachts.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tax-cuts-rich-50-years-no-trickle-down/

50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

Tax cuts for the wealthy didn't boost the economies of the U.S. and 17 other countries — but they did worsen income inequality.

Aug 29, 2023 at 2:06pmWeb
Show threadDan Wentzel 🏳️‍🌈Aug 29, 2023
It isn’t just in the US. Trickle-down economics fails everywhere. Hopefully, the short-lived, but disastrous Liz Truss premiership buried it in the UK.
https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy-only-benefit-the-rich-debunking-trickle-down-economics
Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich | LSE Research

Trickle-down economic policies are destined to fail, research suggests. David Hope explains why the issue is so controversial.

Show threadWeaselAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel

"A huge study of 20 years of global wealth demolishes the myth of 'trickle-down' and shows the rich are taking most of the gains for themselves"

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bad-is-inequality-trickle-down-economics-thomas-piketty-economists-2021-12

Huge 20-year study shows trickle-down is a myth, inequality rampant

The bottom 50% of the world holds 2% of wealth, while the top 10% holds 76%, according to a huge data set that leading economists compiled for years.

Business Insider
Show threadSeán FenianAug 29, 2023
@weaselx86 @danwentzel When even BusinessInsider admits it ...

I doubt the Wall Street Journal ever will, though.
Show threadWeaselAug 29, 2023
@zakalwe @danwentzel
Well, the Wall Street Journal opinion section is Murdoch.
Show threadPetterOfCatsAug 29, 2023
@weaselx86 @danwentzel they needed 20 years to study that huge lie and come up to the same conclusion many of us did after the first 10seconds of it being introduced?
Show threadKenneth John BardsleyAug 29, 2023
@weaselx86 @danwentzel
Now there isn't a surprise.
Show threadJason HunterAug 30, 2023
@weaselx86 @danwentzel The article is talking about world wealth inequality. Anyone reading this stuff on Mastodon is probably in that top 10% of richest people in the world that holds 76% of the wealth. It’s us.
Show threadJeff SmithAug 30, 2023
@weaselx86 @danwentzel Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
Show threadJW prince of CPHAug 30, 2023
@weaselx86 @danwentzel - again. Can we stop studying it to confirm what we already know, and get around to actually removing the myth from public discourse...?
Show threadWeaselAug 30, 2023
@jwcph @danwentzel
Perhaps that publication in Business Insider is a step toward your suggested goal.
Show threadJW prince of CPHAug 31, 2023

@weaselx86 @danwentzel If it was we'd already been there, since I know about other studies producing the same result for at least decades because they, too, were published in the mainstream press.

We need more than that.

Show threadferricoxideAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel Except that, after 40 years of a lot of people not being able to repair their non-yachts, rising tides simply put a lot of people further under water. 😟
Show threadFinal Round Player 😷🇪🇺🍸Aug 29, 2023
@danwentzel Somebody should tell the Rich People. A rising tide lifts their yachts. As well as all the other boats.
Show threadUrsidinoj/The BjornsdottirsAug 29, 2023
@jbond @danwentzel That's why they don't want a rising tide
Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryAug 29, 2023
@jbond @danwentzel they want to rent you the boats, too.
Show threadPusher Of Pixels (old account)Aug 29, 2023

@danwentzel

💯 I'd love to see a study of the tax revenues from one million dollar yacht purchase, vs 1000 ppl spending $1000.

Gov's make money not on tax rates, but on number of transactions. Lots of small transactions from money circulating would seem to generate more tax revenue...allowing actual lower tax rates.

vs having 15 people have half the money in. the. world. locked up and not circulating beyond yacht purchases.

Show threadThe Jack of SandwichAug 30, 2023
@pixelpusher220 @danwentzel Plus, if the little people spend $1000 on rent, groceries, household goods, maybe some entertainment, where does that money go? Into the pockets of the rich, who can then do the same things with that money as if they'd been given it directly.
Show threadPusher Of Pixels (old account)Aug 30, 2023

@jack_of_sandwich @danwentzel

Did you purposely miss the point? B/c it sorta seems like it

Show threadThe Jack of SandwichAug 30, 2023
@pixelpusher220 @danwentzel I'm less interested int the government's revenue than the effects on the economy.
And injecting money at the bottom is going to do more than just injecting it at the top, because it will go through all the layers from the bottom and still end up with any benefit giving it to the rich would have had.
Show threadPusher Of Pixels (old account)Aug 30, 2023

@jack_of_sandwich @danwentzel my post is quite literally about the tax revenues...so I'll take that as a yes.

Good day

Show threadThe Jack of SandwichAug 30, 2023
@pixelpusher220 @danwentzel I guess you purposely missed Dan's point, then.
Show threadSteve Foerster 🌐Aug 29, 2023
@danwentzel I'll bite: what definition of "trickle-down economics" are we using here?
Show threadPusher Of Pixels (old account)Aug 29, 2023

@stevefoerster @danwentzel the one where billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries?

Or perhaps the one where billion dollar companies pay literally zero federal taxes?

Or perhaps the one where the govt subsidizes billion dollar profitable companies but won't pay for children's lunches?

Oh wait, those are all the same one.

Show threadjohn r red-horseAug 30, 2023

@stevefoerster

You pick any one of them. They are all bullshit.

@danwentzel

Show threadJakeQuokkaMCMAug 30, 2023
@stevefoerster @danwentzel is this a quiz? JFC
Show threadThe DoctorAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel It did work - exactly as intended. A lot of rich people got more wealthy, a couple of new rich people were minted, and everybody else took an economic punch in the kidneys.
Show threadAviva GaryAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel You would think... but now the rich have enough riches to own the governments so... 🤑
Show threadMoving PicturesAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel Incorrect. It worked perfectly. It was intended to line the pockets of the wealthy with tax dollars, and it performed spectacularly.
Show threadT.WllmsAug 29, 2023

@Moving_Pictures

It sure did.. intent was wealthfare.

@danwentzel

Show threadThunderstrikeAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel

After reading that article, my only thought was "No shit, Sherlock." It's like when someone does an official study on the effects of arsenic on human beings so they can "officially" come to a conclusion we already knew.

Show threadT.WllmsAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel

Also, ask former Gov. Brownback how it worked for Kansas...
THEY FIRED HIM, QUICKLY... TOTAL FAILURE.

Show threadJoan AlbrightAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel "Not just yachts" 🥇
Show threadvibe goblinAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel BREAKING: Tax cuts for the people who hoard wealth helped no one but the people who hoard wealth
Show threadThe OwlChemistAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel it did work and was very successful for those it worked for.

It was not a failed experiment, and treating it as such really diminishes the harm it has done.

Show threadCharles HeroldAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel It's been clear for some time that trickle-down is BS. But conservatives have always driven trickle-down, and they don't base their policies on facts, they decide what they want to do and then create a fact-free rationale. So no matter how many studies show this, conservatives will always simply insist trickle-down is a thing and ignore all the evidence. The only way to stop trickle-down policies is keep Republicans out of office.
Show threadJakeQuokkaMCMAug 30, 2023
@cherold @danwentzel the last tax cuts were supposed to pay for themselves in five years time - enough time for trump to be safely into his 2nd term. It was absurd and was a lie.
Show threadKeith V.Aug 29, 2023
@danwentzel the power has shifted too hard against us, we need to reclaim it in order to make progress.
Show threadOver ThereAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel the clue was always in the use of the word “trickle”. That made it clear that only a small amount would slowly make its way down to those who really needed it
Show threadJoe🧿Aug 29, 2023
@danwentzel I always show him the 🖕 when I drive on the Reagan Memorial Highway.😅
Show threadTobias GoeschelAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel that can’t be true. We’ll have to wait another 50 years and conduct more studies.
Show threadChristopher ZarrellaAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel Au contraire Trickle Down worked exactly as planned. The rich get richer and screw everyone else.
Show threadMichael PorterAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel @lisamelton The only thing that worked was that the rich were successful in enacting policy that further enriched them. Anyone that bought the line “Give us all the money and we’ll make sure some eventually gets down to you” is a fool.
Show threadbusticatedAug 29, 2023
@danwentzel from 2020 which should tell you how many people are interested in learning from their mistakes
😵‍💫👍
Show threadJeff Zugale - Z FactoryAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel for the record: even 15-year-olds (and not just me) knew “trickle down” was a bare-faced lie by the GOP back in 1980. And plenty of adults did too, but not enough to beat the Boomers+Seniors voting demographics yearning for Morning In America. We KNEW it would be a fifty-year disaster.

This happened because too many Americans didn’t and don’t live in reality.

Show threadTrue SlickyAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel

Shared Security, Shared Growth: A case for "Middle-Out" economics

https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/37/shared-security-shared-growth/

Shared Security, Shared Growth

Our changing economy has given rise to a nation of freelancers and contractors—and the need for a twenty-first-century social contract.

Democracy Journal
Show threadAviva GaryAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel Good for them figuring out what the rest of us knew...

(Also this thread is so good... so many smarties...)

Show threadnot a martian, honestAug 29, 2023

@danwentzel what are you talking about? Of course it worked.

Rich people got richer, poor people got poorer.

Show threadDan Wentzel 🏳️‍🌈Aug 30, 2023
@kyonshi Trickle-down economics worked as intended, not as sold.
Show threadnot a martian, honestAug 30, 2023
@danwentzel well, yeah
Show thread(((JaneinNJ)))Aug 29, 2023
@danwentzel Trickle down was always a grift. The spoken goal was to make the rich richer so that they could reinvest in business and thus provide opportunities for the poor (AKA African-Americans). Real goal was to undo the impact of the New Deal. They wanted to get their mitts back on $ and power they felt they were owed — and, by extension, distance themselves from and subjugate minorities. Even then the diehard Rs hated the idea of a mutually beneficial, diverse society.
Show threadxs4me2Aug 29, 2023

@danwentzel

True...

Show threadGrumbleAug 30, 2023
@danwentzel If you want wealth to trickle down, you need an estate tax, and a hungry mob.
Show threadhomedogAug 30, 2023
@danwentzel uh, yeah, no shit. The whole point of trickle down was to siphon off more wealth from the underclasses.
Show thread3rd Snowman of the ApocalypseAug 30, 2023
@danwentzel Trickle Down worked exactly as designed. We were lied to about the benefits.
Show threadWallOffTrumpAug 30, 2023
@danwentzel And has resulted in a billionaire class with more power and influence than the mere nations they exploit. And enough power to stop ordinary people working to save the world from their climate apocalypse.
Show threadEvelynAug 30, 2023
@danwentzel @DelilahTech
A rising tide lifts all boats (maybe), but it’s pretty hard on those of us who are treading water.