Please tell me why, since we have tried 'treacle' down for over 35 years, we haven't figured out that it doesn't work? How much longer will we 'try' to make it work? When is enough enough?
You have been trying it, Gra'ma, since the industrial revolution which is why America is the richest and most powerful country in the world. Alas, post-Reagan you have been trying your best to STOP IT and you have succeeded partially which is why the geo-political tectonic plates have already begun to shift to the East. I keep urging our host to take a good, long, hard look at France where Hollande through a 75% tax rate on the rich and the imposition of the easiest employment laws anywhere - 35 hour week, minimum wage, retire at 55, etc - has succeeded in bringing France into stagflation and recession. Don't take my word for it, use your internet and read the Brit papers, they will tell you. No good looking at most of your own media, they would have difficulty spelling the word 'France' and anyway, it would upset the Left-wing noodles who write for them so they won't tell you about it. Here's an example:
"Last but not least, the eurozone’s most troubled economies have all been pursuing policies that seem almost designed to discourage companies from investing and hiring. Mr Hollande’s tax, spend and regulatory policies have been the worst of any French administration since the early 1980s, when Francois Mitterrand’s socialist-communist coalition almost bankrupted the country. The wealth tax has gone up, chasing away ever-greater numbers of successful French entrepreneurs, executives and investors, with many moving to London. Even in the diluted way in which it was eventually implemented, Mr Hollande’s punitive 75pc top rate of income tax was an act of economic suicide. It reminded successful folk that they were neither liked nor appreciated. As to global investors, they were left in no doubt that France is now virulently anti-capitalist and anti-business. The result: a negative supply-side shock, with companies refusing to hire and spend, and unemployment surging ever higher, especially among young people."
As usual, you seem to be living in some kind of dream world, David. You have it backwards. Before Reagan, we had a fair economy where productivity was shared -- then the Republicans instituted "trickle-down" and things started going downhill for everyone but the rich. It was "trickle-down" that was primarily responsible for the recession -- and our inability to recover from it.
As a capitalist, you should know that money doesn't trickle down in a capitalist society -- it flows upward. That is always the case. So the only way to cure our economic ills is to funnel more money to the masses -- not the rich. The rich will wind up with it, but at least it will have benefitted everyone else too.
The idea that France and the United States are analogous is only true in your own fevered imagination. The U.S. economy was trashed by the Republican elected officials, and they are the ones who are blocking any effort to fix it.
So you're NOT in favour of a 75% tax rate on the wealthy, a 35-hour working week, the longest holidays in Europe, high minimum wage and retirement at 55? Very wise of you when you see what it's done to France!
The problem with France and the rest of the members of the European Union, a collection of countries not states with their own agendas and allegiance to none, is that they've only been at it since 1993 and didn't exactly plan the economics or the politics out very well. It's like having 28 horses pulling on a different part of one fragile carriage while each rider is speaking a different language so no one understands in which direction they are supposed to go.
BTW, for anyone high on Germany and it's workplace rules..."German vacation act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz), enacted Jan 8 1963, provides for every worker working full time an annual minimum vacation of 24 business days (which is 20 work days). In part time work, vacation is less, in proportion. Collective agreements often exceed that regulated vacation, making the average vacation granted in Germany around 29 days. Severely disabled people are granted additional vacation of 5 days, according to SGB IX."-http://working-in-germany.com/vacation-working-0141.html. I don't believe the US even comes close to this kind of socialism.
ANONYMOUS COMMENTS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. And neither will racist,homophobic, or misogynistic comments. I do not mind if you disagree, but make your case in a decent manner.
It works exactly as intended; I.e. Concentrating wealth amongst the Rich.
ReplyDelete'Trickle down economics' the nice way of saying 'we like pissing and schiting all over everyone else'
ReplyDeletePlease tell me why, since we have tried 'treacle' down for over 35 years, we haven't figured out that it doesn't work? How much longer will we 'try' to make it work? When is enough enough?
ReplyDeleteYou have been trying it, Gra'ma, since the industrial revolution which is why America is the richest and most powerful country in the world. Alas, post-Reagan you have been trying your best to STOP IT and you have succeeded partially which is why the geo-political tectonic plates have already begun to shift to the East. I keep urging our host to take a good, long, hard look at France where Hollande through a 75% tax rate on the rich and the imposition of the easiest employment laws anywhere - 35 hour week, minimum wage, retire at 55, etc - has succeeded in bringing France into stagflation and recession. Don't take my word for it, use your internet and read the Brit papers, they will tell you. No good looking at most of your own media, they would have difficulty spelling the word 'France' and anyway, it would upset the Left-wing noodles who write for them so they won't tell you about it. Here's an example:
ReplyDelete"Last but not least, the eurozone’s most troubled economies have all been pursuing policies that seem almost designed to discourage companies from investing and hiring. Mr Hollande’s tax, spend and regulatory policies have been the worst of any French administration since the early 1980s, when Francois Mitterrand’s socialist-communist coalition almost bankrupted the country. The wealth tax has gone up, chasing away ever-greater numbers of successful French entrepreneurs, executives and investors, with many moving to London. Even in the diluted way in which it was eventually implemented, Mr Hollande’s punitive 75pc top rate of income tax was an act of economic suicide. It reminded successful folk that they were neither liked nor appreciated. As to global investors, they were left in no doubt that France is now virulently anti-capitalist and anti-business. The result: a negative supply-side shock, with companies refusing to hire and spend, and unemployment surging ever higher, especially among young people."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/11035598/Why-Francois-Hollandes-France-has-become-the-eurozones-weak-link.html
As usual, you seem to be living in some kind of dream world, David. You have it backwards. Before Reagan, we had a fair economy where productivity was shared -- then the Republicans instituted "trickle-down" and things started going downhill for everyone but the rich. It was "trickle-down" that was primarily responsible for the recession -- and our inability to recover from it.
ReplyDeleteAs a capitalist, you should know that money doesn't trickle down in a capitalist society -- it flows upward. That is always the case. So the only way to cure our economic ills is to funnel more money to the masses -- not the rich. The rich will wind up with it, but at least it will have benefitted everyone else too.
ReplyDeleteSo, Ted, nothing to say about France whose president is implementing the sort of policies you advocate for the USA?
ReplyDeleteThe idea that France and the United States are analogous is only true in your own fevered imagination. The U.S. economy was trashed by the Republican elected officials, and they are the ones who are blocking any effort to fix it.
ReplyDeleteOnly a rePUKEian would think otherwise, or some not to bright.
DeleteSo you're NOT in favour of a 75% tax rate on the wealthy, a 35-hour working week, the longest holidays in Europe, high minimum wage and retirement at 55? Very wise of you when you see what it's done to France!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with France and the rest of the members of the European Union, a collection of countries not states with their own agendas and allegiance to none, is that they've only been at it since 1993 and didn't exactly plan the economics or the politics out very well. It's like having 28 horses pulling on a different part of one fragile carriage while each rider is speaking a different language so no one understands in which direction they are supposed to go.
ReplyDeleteBTW, for anyone high on Germany and it's workplace rules..."German vacation act (Bundesurlaubsgesetz), enacted Jan 8 1963, provides for every worker working full time an annual minimum vacation of 24 business days (which is 20 work days). In part time work, vacation is less, in proportion. Collective agreements often exceed that regulated vacation, making the average vacation granted in Germany around 29 days. Severely disabled people are granted additional vacation of 5 days, according to SGB IX."-http://working-in-germany.com/vacation-working-0141.html. I don't believe the US even comes close to this kind of socialism.
ReplyDelete