Wealth doesn't trickle down.

[Andvare]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/offshore-wealth-global-economy-tax-havens

Wealth doesn't trickle down – it just floods offshore, research reveals

Can we at some point in the future, agree on that a theory should have some resemblance of a basis in reality, instead of being based on dreams?

It is not the wealth of the upper class that drives the economy, it is the consumption of the middle class that drives the economy.
This isn't really news, it is just common sense, common sense that a large part of society actively ignores.

 

[Cutlass]

This has been known for more than a century. The thing is that the people pushing the theory know it too, and it's what they want.

 

[AlpsStranger]

I'll just accuse you of envy and class warfare before everyone else gets to

Firsties!

 

[Cutlass]

 

[Traitorfish]

It is not the wealth of the upper class that drives the economy, it is the consumption of the middle class that drives the economy.

It's the work of the working class that drives the economy.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

This 'theory' will stick around as long as it useful for justifying tax cuts for the super-rich.

 

[AlpsStranger]

This 'theory' will stick around as long as it useful for justifying tax cuts for the super-rich.

Assisted by its ventriloquist dummy "The Outraged Small Business Owner."

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Assisted by its ventriloquist dummy "The Outraged Small Business Owner."

The really strange part is that one segment of the economy that's been helped by Obama (and would be helped more if not for Republican obstructionism) is the small business sector.

But they still 'adore' the Republicans and think Obama's out to oppress them.

 

[AlpsStranger]

But they still 'adore' the Republicans and think Obama's out to oppress them.

The Kochs, Adelson, Romney, Ryan and the GOP establishment are all about the tax cuts for the rich. Maybe a few extra wars for good measure.

The Republican voters are freaking out over porno, tramp stamps, gays, agnostics, girls gone wild, condoms, etc.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The Kochs, Adelson, Romney, Ryan and the GOP establishment are all about the tax cuts for the rich. Maybe a few extra wars for good measure.

The Republican voters are freaking out over porno, tramp stamps, gays, agnostics, girls gone wild, condoms, etc.

Yeah but what does that have anything to do with small business owners loving republicans/hating Obama and trickled-down economics?

 

[AlpsStranger]

Yeah but what does that have anything to do with small business owners loving republicans/hating Obama and trickled-down economics?

Because a lot of small business owners are social conservatives who are freaked out about all of that stuff.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Because a lot of small business owners are social conservatives who are freaked out about all of that stuff.

Oh. True story.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Oh. True story.

With the understanding that "the plural of anecdote isn't data" it has been my experience that the "open a gewgaw shop on the corner" crowd is mostly evangelical. It's the sort of hazy dream of a wholesome family business that drives it. It's certainly not a cold, rational search for extra income.

To an "evil, cynical, hard hearted" nonbeliever like myself most small businesses seem like too much risk and too little reward.

 

[Traitorfish]

With the understanding that "the plural of anecdote isn't data" it has been my experience that the "open a gewgaw shop on the corner" crowd is mostly evangelical. It's the sort of hazy dream of a wholesome family business that drives it. It's certainly not a cold, rational search for extra income.

I imagine that prosperity theology helps in all this. Risks probably don't seem so scary when you can wrangle it round in your head that they only really apply to people who aren't in good with the J-Man.

 

[Borachio]

Ah. And here you might be close to the evolutionary advantage of religion. And why we still have it.

Subscribers just tend to go that little bit further than the irrelegious.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Ah. And here you might be close to the evolutionary advantage of religion. And why we still have it.

Subscribers just tend to go that little bit further than the irrelegious.

I've had this exact same thought more than once.

 

[Borachio]

Bit of a worry, isn't it?

 

[AlpsStranger]

Bit of a worry, isn't it?

Not really. Things will be what they will be. Even though I'm an atheist I'm not foolish enough to believe we'll ever be rid of religion.

It's the Ayatollahs, witch burnings, and 'police of vice and virtue' we have to work at preventing. Religion is inevitable, but it doesn't have to be awful if we're clever and vigilant.

 

[Borachio]

You optimist, you.

 

[Traitorfish]

Religion is inevitable[...]

How so? Plenty of societies have done without anything like what we call "religion", even if our-centredeness has lead us to superimpose it onto what they were actually doing.