Trickle Me This

One theory of economic improvement that was tried back when Reagan was President (odd that I can think of him as President, but when I think of Bush, its hard; it usually comes out president or Prez or something) was trickle-down economics.

The basic idea was that by improving the economic conditions of people at the top of the economic food chain, you would supply enough water to lift all the boats. They would hire more maids, gardeners, buy more gifts, houses, and so forth; all of that would affect the people who make livings supplying those services and goods; they in turn would hire a lawn care service, buy more pork and beans, and so on. I haven't followed it religiously, and I do believe that, like faith healers, economists can find evident for whatever you want -- Why, yes, people thinking that they saw Elvis at the Quikee Mark did in fact improve the general economy of Quisdale -- so its possible that it did work -- but you couldn't prove it by me. What I think happened is that the people at the upper reaches already had enough discretionary income and credit to get whatever they wanted; the extra money that they reaped didn't go into purchases (though they may have gone into upgrading the purchase; the Buick became a Lexus; the vacation in Barbados became one in the south of France). Perhaps they bought more stocks, investments. The money, pretty much, stayed at their level. It didn't trickle down.

So when I see Bush saying that the best short-term fix for the economy is to reduce taxes, I think: Reagan Lives! And so do his results....