Again, trickle-down economics fails
Enough already. If anyone still believes Reaganomics and trickle-down economic policies are a viable or desirable economic alternative, they're just not paying attention.
All you need to do is look at the world around you to see that the supporters of these trickle-down policies have a purely political agenda, not an economic agenda.
If you give more money to the rich, all that will happen for sure is that they will give part of it back to the current crop of Republicans.
How bad does it have to get before people wake up and start thinking for themselves?
The current home mortgage crisis was a direct result of the abuses of deregulation.
Yet the basic argument from conservative pundits is a call for a return to "personal responsibility" lacking in the buyers.
They believe the mortgage buyers should have known the inherent risk. That may be somewhat true, but where was the personal (and business) responsibility of the sellers of these mortgages, too?
It was, after all, the sellers who set all the rules.
How can you blame only the buyers who wanted nothing more than to be a part of the American dream?
Do you remember how, during the last presidential election, the entire real-estate market was showcased as a shining example of the booming economy?
If anyone dared caution that we were experiencing a jobless recovery after the first Bush recession, they were quickly silenced by pundits pointing to the real-estate market. Now we find out it was all a house of cards.
Face it; there was a recession under Ronald Reagan, and another under George H.W. Bush, both while trickle-down and deregulation policies were being implemented.
Under the administration of Bill Clinton, when many trickle-down policies were moderated or reversed, there was no recession.
Now, under the leadership of George W. Bush and the return to trickle-down economics, we are in our second recession in seven years.
Doesn't that tell you something?
Philip A. Graf
Rolling Meadows