The fairy tale world of Republican economics is based on their trickle-down theory, a magical belief that deregulation and lower taxes for the rich (and corporations) will result in a thriving economy that helps all Americans. This adventure through the magical world of trickle-down began when President Reagan cut the top tax bracket in half. Over the last two decades, corporations were given magical Republican tax loopholes. This lowered the corporate effective tax rates to historic lows.
After 30 years of Reaganomics, the rich have income gains of 275 percent while middle-class wages have not even kept pace with the cost of living. It’s not trickling — and tax cuts for the rich and corporations don’t make America’s middle class strong. Also, the Pied Piper Republicans sponsored bank deregulation, and led us down the subprime crisis road and into recession.
In 1965, President Johnson created Medicare, which helped cut elderly poverty rates in half. Now the Alice in Wonderland Tea Party Republicans have proposed even more tax cuts, paid for by destroying Medicare. In short, Mad Hatter Reagan’s trickle-down theory has taken America down a Tea Party rabbit hole, where Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, is the Queen of Hearts shouting “Off with Medicare’s head.”
Ken Simpson
Vancouver
