As we continue through the Covid-19 economic depression, my observation, not an official observation, the fact the trumplicans are unwilling to provide additional relief to everyday Americans is such an abysmal failure of leadership.
The trumplicans, at the beginning of the pandemic got on board to provide some relief to actual working folk, as long as there were huge amounts also going to big business. Where those big business funds went has not fully been disclosed, we just have to trust it was allocated in the manner intended.
As they continue to “debate” a new relief fund, that so far will not benefit the working class very much, if at all, but will grant immunity to employers regarding anything Covid-19 related, the trumplicans don’t seem to fully understand the concept of trickle down economics.
When the 1% received recent huge tax cuts (and the ones they’ve received in the past), it has never trickled down to benefit the rest of us as promised. They just reinvest the money in the stock market or bonds, or buy big ticket items that generate very few jobs, such as a yacht or another mansion.
But the lose of a job, unemployment benefits, or business does have a trickle down effect. When you lose your source of income, you lose your ability to pay bills, or buy extras let alone the bare necessities.
Take a restaurant. When a restaurant loses business or closes, it means the owner has reduced accounts receivable. This then causes a reduction in work force, reduction in funds to renovate, and/or a reduction in purchasing of supplies and food. Each of these reductions has a domino effect as the employee now has no income or less income, the contractors have no or less business, and the supplies/food vendors then also have a lower or no accounts receivable.
Trickle down effect might be the employee may then have to apply for government assistance, because of a loss of benefits may have to go to the emergency room as a last resort due to no insurance, and use the local food bank.
Trickle down effect might be each of the vendors and contractors then also needing to scale down, or close down, thus continuing the domino effect, the trickle down effect, to their own employees and vendors. And so on, and so on.
The thing is, a lot of this can be prevented or mitigated, but only with government interference. Government’s role, after all, is to protect its citizens in times of crises. I’m quite certain a pandemic with an ever increasing number of people testing positive and being hospitalized would be considered a crisis.
If people get help now, help to pay rent, help to buy groceries, help to keep their businesses open, help to get medical attention, help to pay utilities, just get help, it will save us more money in the long term than it will cost now with a stimulus bill.
I’m not quite sure what it is about the true aspects of trickle down economics the trumplicans seem too dense to truly and fully understand. If you give money to the rich, they keep it. If you give money to the less fortunate, they spend it. In their spending, it helps the local economy, helps local employment, helps the tax base, helps pull the country out of a depression.
What will it take for the trumplicans to finally learn this lesson?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 