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Bill Maher on hating rich people.
Here's the thing, guys. The whole supply-side support the rich economic idea? It's bullshit. Giving more money to the rich simply does not help when you've got a demand-side clusterfuck, because the rich already have everything they need or want. They're not going to buy anything with it, and most of them aren't going to start a new business or something either. If you give someone that's already awash with cash a million bucks, they're not going to spend it and they're not going to invest it - at best, it may end up in an arcane collection of portfolio funds somewhere, which exists to make money, not things. That supports the pretty much non-productive and outsized financial services sector. It doesn't create jobs. If you give that same million bucks to a thousand poor people, a thousand dollars at a time? Every penny will get spent, several times over. Giving it to the middle class? Probably 80% of it will get spent, because hey, kids need braces and families need vacations and bonuses aren't as big as they used to be, while retirement is a long way away. If you want to create demand, you give money to the people with unmet needs that are going to spend it. Anyone arguing for tax cuts for the rich right now is either stupid or self-dealing, it's as simple as that.
Here's the thing, guys. The whole supply-side support the rich economic idea? It's bullshit. Giving more money to the rich simply does not help when you've got a demand-side clusterfuck, because the rich already have everything they need or want. They're not going to buy anything with it, and most of them aren't going to start a new business or something either. If you give someone that's already awash with cash a million bucks, they're not going to spend it and they're not going to invest it - at best, it may end up in an arcane collection of portfolio funds somewhere, which exists to make money, not things. That supports the pretty much non-productive and outsized financial services sector. It doesn't create jobs. If you give that same million bucks to a thousand poor people, a thousand dollars at a time? Every penny will get spent, several times over. Giving it to the middle class? Probably 80% of it will get spent, because hey, kids need braces and families need vacations and bonuses aren't as big as they used to be, while retirement is a long way away. If you want to create demand, you give money to the people with unmet needs that are going to spend it. Anyone arguing for tax cuts for the rich right now is either stupid or self-dealing, it's as simple as that.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-25 01:42 pm (UTC)From:Middle class and poor people are much more likely to buy consumer goods, cars, home renos and houses. To do the things that actually drive demand, growth, and recovery!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-25 10:31 pm (UTC)From:The tricky part is to make sure to restrain the Fist of Death when someone retorts "Rich people buy stuff, too! How about the Learjet they buy, and the people they pay to keep it up?"
The answer I tend to use is "You can't fill the Pacific with the rainfall of Seattle."
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Date: 2010-09-25 10:32 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-25 11:20 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-09-26 07:42 pm (UTC)From: