Bob Brinker, host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Moneytalk,” shocked me Sunday when he said that the evidence shows that trickle-down economics doesn’t work. Trickle down, or supply side, economics was big under Ronald Reagan, and suggests that if you cut taxes on the rich, they will invest and create new jobs. Wealth will trickle down to the poor.
For years the host has gone the other way, claiming that taxing the rich hurts the economy. But suddenly, he made an about-face, saying that the fact that CEOs are making billions and are paid 400 times more than their workers, and they aren’t sharing or spreading that money, shows that the much held theory doesn’t really work.
Say what???
The rich are only lining their own coffers, he said and brought up the salary inequality between a surgeon, who is helping people and earning around $1 million a year, and a ball player earning $40 million a year.
I thought he and his ilk believed that the market rules all, and anyone who questioned that is a Communist…or a liberal.
Hey, I’m glad he’s seen the light because, frankly, greed and stupidity have paved the way to the biggest financial crisis of our lifetimes, and lack of regulation only leads to more greed. Sure, there are a few Bill Gates’s and Warren Buffetts who have come to realize that with great power comes great responsibility, but then there are plenty of yacht buying, plane flying, government begging CEO’s who think the world is theirs and screw the masses.
You can hear Brinker’s revelation here, about three fourths of the way through the 3 p.m. hour.
You can read some of Brinker’s past statements recounted here.
