Don't Blame Biden

"Trickle down" economics merely describes how capitalism works and most other economic systems work as well. In capitalism it means that someone took some risks and started a business enterprise. That person then earns a gross profit from the enterprise which is used to pay employees, suppliers, and even government. If there is a net profit after the expenses are paid, then the founder enriches him or herself. Everything starts with the enterprise that earns a profit and "trickles down" to those associated with the enterprise. This is how wealth is developed.

The "trickling up" is represented by those who buy the products or services of the enterprise and those whose time and efforts the enterprise secures. You can think of it as a circular process but it always - ALWAYS - starts by someone taking risk and starting a business enterprise. As an example, a solitary miner can invest in equipment, buy a lease and add his hard work to mining minerals. When he sells his minerals he has a viable business that can grow with good management. But nothing would have happened until the miner took the risks, did the work and started his business enterprise. Those minerals then represent raw materials that are purchased by other business enterprises.

The reason capitalism works is that the owner or owners of a business seek profit to insure the viability of the business and to enrich themselves or at least try to enrich themselves. There is much motivation for a business founder. As money trickles down to the employees of the business or its suppliers the process continues. The employees use the money they earned to buy things from other businesses. The suppliers pay their employees and on and on. This is how wealth is developed in a capitalist economy. The profit motive makes capitalism the most successful economic system by far. Nothing has come close to matching it for the standard of living available to those societies that adopted it.

 

Not in my lifetime.

 

With a little twist socialism can be viewed as a perfect trickle down economic system.

To add a punctuation to your thoughts, capitalism succeeds and creates wealth because the successful capitalist makes and sells things only that satisfies the market. Socialism does not prosper because the captains of industry -- politicians -- make and sell things that satisfy their own ideals and agenda.

 

It is worth noting that the poor do not pay Federal Income Taxes, hence their money does NOT fund the military..

 

Yes socialism also practices "trickle down" economics. The difference is that an entrepreneur didn't take risks, start a business and have his income and lifestyle depend on the profits of the business. The motivation that makes capitalism work disappears with socialism. Nice theory but it doesn't feed human nature and hence doesn't feed the society very well either

As an entrepreneur myself I can assure everyone that business is hard. It takes a lot of work. My company has about 800 competitors who want take my market share. Internet thieves try to steal from me every day. Government does everything it can do to make me fail and makes more money from my business than I do. Motivation is really what makes capitalism so successful. Any entrepreneur who has survived the last couple of years is motivated and is doing what is necessary. Socialism is the opposite. The differences are obvious. Why has virtually every communist and socialist country adopted capitalism? Because it works better. Every time.

 

But making excuses is so much easier than making results....

Every single one of us spent an entire lifetime of choices arriving at precisely where we find ourselves today. Every one of us.

 

Precisely why socialism can never work for long. It has no one that strives to satisfy the market, and its "trickle down" does not create any wealth. Reminiscent of when McDonald's first opened in Russia. Their biggest operating problem in the beginning was the Russian employees not giving a damn about the pesky customer.

 

The problem with what you put forward is that you seem to think that laws and government policy play no role in how wealth is distributed. You also fail to take into account that hard working people sometimes are the victims of things that they have no control over. You would have us believe the accumulation of wealth is simply a matter of hard work, and that simply is not true.

In a system where the top one percent own as much wealth as the bottom 90% of the people, you would expect them to pay more per capita.

It isn't a matter of ignorance or work ethic, its a matter of how the tax code is written. The tax code is written in a way that allows the wealthy to avoid paying taxes.

 

No, not quite. You are tripped up on the nuances. Capitalism is an economic/political system where there is private ownership of the means of production. Whereas trickle down economics is a type of government economic policy where the policy choices deliberately favor the wealthy with the idea that the wealthy will trickle down the wealth to the lower classes. One is a political/economic system, the other is an economic policy.

 

Yes in your lifetime. Anyone that would encourage and instigate the assault that occurred on the US political system in January 2021 simply is not capable of running this country. Someone so foolish that they can't understand they are destroying the system and this country by such activity is unqualified. Period.

 

No it doesn't. Socialism doesn't advocate government economic policy that deliberately favors the wealthy.

 

No that is not true. While some things are the result of our choices, some things are not. For example no one chose the family they were born into. Birth has a bearing on where we find ourselves today.

 

This really isn't a thread about capitalism and socialism. That said, some guy who buys $100,000 in a stock at the beginning of a day, then the stock goes up 5% later that day and he sells it and makes $5000 in profit is not creating wealth.

 

~ Agree. Biden is only responsible for making things a Hell of a lot worse. It is astonishing how quickly one administration can accomplish this amazing feat. He deserves an award.
The " systemic flaws " are the people we elect. Too many in upper government are not intelligent, ambitious nor interested enough to improve America.
Self interest and ego is the average politician's motivation. It seems that is a prerequisite ! And we continue to elect them.

Don't forget to vote ...

 

Well obviously there are a set of circumstances that are out of anyone's control such as their birth however no matter how you were born you have a lifetime of choices that bought you to today.

Nothing changes that

 

Obviously you don't understand "trickle down" Please explain a "trickle up" that doesn't require something or someone to start a business. While you are at it you may want to explain what government economic policy has to do with an economic system. I realize that the Russian capitalist system is designed to favor the wealthy but that is because it combines with a dictatorship rather than a democracy.

 

You may not be aware of the fact that Trump wasn't involved in the Jan 6 riot. In fact he asked the protesters not to riot. You are reading too much left wing American media.

 

No. Capitalism is not a political system at all. It is an economic system. Trickle down simply explains the flow of wealth. Employers pay employees. The money trickles down. Everything starts with formation of a business. It isn't in the least bit complicated. Again you are reading too much American left wing media.

 

Spot on posts!

 

You are going to have quite a few dissenters with this but I believe I understand your point.

 

I think most people understand that leaders have been making poor decisions for a very long time.
The worst of these is to assume that people will, if given opportunity- stand up and support themselves. It's a sound idea, a righteous idea that works when done- but we have conditioned our society to blame someone else for our own decisions, and insist they protect us from the consequences of them. Thus, we vote for politicians who promise what is not possible- dignity and freedom as people without control of their own lives, and dependent on government for sustenance.

People such as yourself point to "extreme income inequality", as if income was your right to breathe the air, to get your "fair share". But we never hear them comment on the inequality of production, of contribution, the very things that make a good society possible. The variation of those things between people is huge- with a few doing things that change the world for the good, and many thinking they deserve a share of their neighbors crop, when they won't work their own garden.

Winners win- losers lose. That is just how it is, and that is not unfair-it's the rightful due resulting from the efforts. Not just the physical, but the vision, the creativity, the dedication, the attitude, the meticulous pursuit of critical goals- which wind up benefiting virtually everyone.

Trickle down never meant getting checks in the mail; it means that growth in the area of those special efforts produces an outflow of opportunity, of jobs, improves efficiency, improves quality, and reduces the costs of goods everyone needs. That works- IF YOU WORK WITH IT. When people just expect to milk it for a share like a community cow, then they serve only themselves; they break the chain by taking benefits but contributing little or nothing. Even the worst of our citizens have benefited from these productive people and that system- but they still complain because they aren't "equal". There are a lot of people holding jobs today because it is so difficult to find anyone that will actually work... and many of those should be paying their employer for the opportunity to learn. It's that bad. I tend to think there is too little concern about productivity, too much about income. The two ARE always related,

A person with limited background and skills, but with the right attitude, can become a great success today, because the opportunities are exceptional. The need for people who can actually make things happen is greater than ever- and leads to promotion, management, and money. The need for people who will do no more than necessary to keep their job- leads nowhere. That's not the system- that's the mindset of the people. No one owes you anything. You are not entitled to anything. But if you make yourself valuable, you will be in high demand, and the sky's the limit.

 

That presumes he, and the West, have a willing partner (Putin) in finding a resolution. They don't.

 

Here is the problem so adequately displayed by this post. "We the People" understand that human nature is very flawed. There does not exist an ":intellectually consistent ideology". We rely on a series of checks and balances so that no select group gets to hold sway with their greedy snobbery that you seem to propose. You may have disdain for "We the People" but many of us have a great disdain for a large centralization of power as the left and establishment proposes now!

 

He has no point at all. He is criticizing capitalism and using gambling as an example of its awfulness. The gambler could just as well lost $5000 and created no wealth. It just causes the money to go in a different direction.

 

They do pay more per capita by a wide margin. Nobody is taxed on their wealth; that would be unconstitutional. As far as taxing income the tax code is set up to tax the high earners significantly more than low earners.