The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ
laddicus finch
Jr. Member
Posts: 1,918
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« on: December 31, 2020, 07:59:47 PM » |
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"Trickle-down economics" is a silly term because that's not what supply-side economics even argues. The right needed a way to justify those tax cuts and used the argument that the wealth would be passed down to the poor, and the left mocked it by giving it that name.
Supply-side economics were meant to revitalize western economies after the stagflation of the 70s, when government spending was failing to stimulate the economy and only causing inflation, and the private sector was held back by government action. Supply-side economics were meant to revitalize the private sector, which it did, and it wasn't meant to reduce economic inequality, which it didn't. It does what it's meant to do, it doesn't do what it isn't meant to do.
This isn't me supporting or opposing these economics. Generally I lean more left and don't support ideas like this because it comes at the expense of social services, but in the context of stagflation, it was good policy. What isn't good policy is implementing the exact same things in every context because of an ideological predisposition. The Trump-Ryan tax cuts for example were really stupid--the American private sector was already doing very well, the tax cuts hardly led to any stimulus while skyrocketing the deficit. Frustratingly, good policy rarely makes for good politics. So here we are.
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