Charlie wrote on Aug 12th, 2008 at 11:11pm:You can't buy trickle down economics after all this time. It's just the opposite: The money is flowing up from the bottom to a very thin slice of the economy that is doing just fine.
Trickle down, the name given to the Mellon Plan in an era after the Gilded Age that capitalist's new sense of social responsibility would preclude the need for aggressive federal intervention in the marketplace. It seemed to stand dependent upon an ethical capacity of business somewhat.
Coolidge agreed and believed that corporate productivity would trickle down to all and did not typically constrast the needs of business with those of the public. Cutting taxes to the rich would lead them to invest the windfall and spur production advances, which would benefit consumers and workers alike. Also though, the term "special interests" was coined at this time.
This then masked the dangers of a public investment deficit, a swelling of a middle class could now afford luxury, largely on the installment plan (parallels to housing today). It was a hope of Cal that the mores of the previous century might survive the new one, and that competition wouldn't degenerate into a mere selfish scramble of rewards. This perhaps is what Charlie's posts seem to look at.
In a sense, what has trickled down has also trickled down and out of the country, in one example, jobs.
Quote:From all the rhetoric I hear from the pro-Obama camp, this vote is just retaliation for 8 years of Bush and has nothing to do with the qualifications or integrity of their candidate. That's a sad fact.
I can see this as a part.
With the emergence of media back in the 20's, films and radio, different compentencies were required in politics, horse-trading skills and public persona the chief political instrument. There's an internet today.
Cal mentioned success lies in "how a president gauges, guides, and gives expression to the mood of the people he leads." In this particular economic atmosphere there are listening ears to the word "change", easy enough to understand without caring about the particular details.
As to a thread entitled, "This is what the democrats..." and then discussing communism, I can't quite follow the dotted lines. I'll agree with Charlie, "bounced around but to no avail." Safeguard? Cal again: "...human nature cannot be changed by an act of the legislature."
Paul touched upon that similar idea about communism in his posts.
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