"In this country, broad based prosperity has never trickled down from the success of a wealthy few. It has always come from the success of a strong and growing middle class."The stupidity of that statement is that trickle down economics occurs everyday in our economy; and, at all levels of this nation's income ladder. As a whole, Americans only save about 6% of what they earn. So, conversely, if any American, rich or poor, gets their hands on any extra cash, they're likely to spend 94% of it. That increased spending results in increased economic activity; which, in turn, results in new jobs. This is why the economic recoveries under Bush, following 9/11, and under Reagan, following the disastrous Carter years, were so successful. They both put money in American's pockets by cutting taxes on all taxpayers. On the other hand, Obama's tactic of big government spending has only resulted in one of the worst economic recoveries in the history of the United States.
However, what is really interesting to me is that, recently, in arguing for two separate spending programs, the President has either unknowingly or unwittingly endorsed trickle down economics.
In the first case, he argued that extending unemployment benefits helps the economy by actually creating jobs. Then he went on to use an example of "Kathy" that certainly sounds a lot like trickle down economics to me (click at 7 minutes and 17 seconds to hear that specific part of his speech):
The other instance came as he announced his "Promise Zones Initiative"; whereby, corporations and businesses, who hire employees from certain economically depressed parts of the country, would receive federal tax breaks. Wow! How Republican of him in admitting that tax breaks for (rich, greedy, and fat-cat) corporations might actually create jobs!
References:
CNN: Obama Trashes Trickle Down Economics: http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/03/news/economy/obama-ryan-trickle-down/
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