Anyone who follows my blog knows how I hate how supply side economics (aka Reaganomics & trickle down theory) has become economic orthodoxy in the Western world and Nick Hanauer sums up my thoughts on the subject pretty well. Hopefully people listen to him, he’s a self made billionaire who’s argument is very persuasive. Here are a few quotes from the article that I particularly like.
If workers have more money, businesses have more customers. Which makes middle-class consumers, not rich businesspeople like us, the true job creators. Which means a thriving middle class is the source of American prosperity, not a consequence of it. The middle class creates us rich people, not the other way around.
The model for us rich guys here should be Henry Ford, who realized that all his autoworkers in Michigan weren’t only cheap labor to be exploited; they were consumers, too. Ford figured that if he raised their wages, to a then-exorbitant $5 a day, they’d be able to afford his Model Ts.
What a great idea. My suggestion to you is: Let’s do it all over again. We’ve got to try something. These idiotic trickle-down policies are destroying my customer base. And yours too.
Most of you probably think that the $15 minimum wage in Seattle is an insane departure from rational policy that puts our economy at great risk. But in Seattle, our current minimum wage of $9.32 is already nearly 30 percent higher than the federal minimum wage. And has it ruined our economy yet? Well, trickle-downers, look at the data here: The two cities in the nation with the highest rate of job growth by small businesses are San Francisco and Seattle. Guess which cities have the highest minimum wage? San Francisco and Seattle. The fastest-growing big city in America? Seattle. Fifteen dollars isn’t a risky untried policy for us. It’s doubling down on the strategy that’s already allowing our city to kick your city’s ass.
We rich people have been falsely persuaded by our schooling and the affirmation of society, and have convinced ourselves, that we are the main job creators. It’s simply not true. There can never be enough super-rich Americans to power a great economy. I earn about 1,000 times the median American annually, but I don’t buy thousands of times more stuff. My family purchased three cars over the past few years, not 3,000. I buy a few pairs of pants and a few shirts a year, just like most American men. I bought two pairs of the fancy wool pants I am wearing as I write, what my partner Mike calls my “manager pants.” I guess I could have bought 1,000 pairs. But why would I? Instead, I sock my extra money away in savings, where it doesn’t do the country much good.
Source: Politico Magazine
I hate hearing Americans complain about how great things were in the 50s, 60s & 70s uh don’t they know back then at least in the US income taxes for the highest income bracket was 90%+ in the 50s? Business taxes were 50% and the country was booming, everyone was making money and doing well…
When Republicans and Conservatives (both in the US and here in Canada) say lowering taxes will spur economic activity, they’re clearly assuming it and not looking at history. Tax rates on both corporations and individuals need to go up significantly, people should be paid more so there will be greater demand and then maybe we’ll have a sustainable economy… Trickle down economics will only bring doom for us all and our political leaders are doubling down on this retarded notion.
Fuck President Regan (the Republican hero) and his stupid theory on economics, let’s thank that asshole for putting the world on a course for disaster.
