Trickle Down Economics

“I loved that song when she first came out... her songs had been so full of sweetness, and then she obviously got pissed off.”

“But Toby Kieth is just a dumb redneck...”

“okiah pin yeet tarqe kueene biesett.Marsiche bianne communista Jah vuo.”

“


HAZELWOOD, MO—Twenty-six years after Ronald Reagan first set his controversial fiscal policies into motion, the deceased president's massive tax cuts for the ultrarich at last trickled all the way down to deliver their bounty, in the form of a $10 bonus, to Hazelwood, MO car-wash attendant Frank Kellener.

"Back when Reagan was in charge, I didn't think much of him," Kellener, 57, said, holding up two five-dollar bills nearly three decades in the making. "But who would have thought that in 2007 I'd have this extra $10 in my pocket? He may not have lived to see it, but I'm sure President Reagan is up in heaven smiling down on me right now."

Leading economists say Kellener's unexpected windfall provides the first irrefutable proof of the effectiveness of Reagan's so-called supply-side economics, and shows that the former president had "incredible, far-reaching foresight."

"When the tax burden on the upper income brackets is lifted, the rich and not-rich alike all benefit," said Arthur Laffer, who was a former member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board. "Eventually."

The $10 began its long journey into Kellener's wallet in 1983, when a beefed-up national defense budget of $210 billion enabled the military to purchase advanced warhead-delivery systems from aerospace manufacturer Lockheed. Buoyed by a multimillion-dollar bonus, then-CEO Martin Lawler bought a house on a 5,000-acre plot in Montana. When a forest fire destroyed his home in 1986, Lawler took the federal relief check and invested it in a savings and loan run by a Virginia man named Michael Webber. After Webber's firm collapsed in 1989, and he was indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges, he retained the services of high- powered law firm Rabin & Levy for his defense. After six years and $7 million in legal fees, Webber received only a $250,000 fine, and the defense team went out to celebrate at a Washington, D.C.-area restaurant called Di Forenza. During dinner, lawyer Peter Smith overheard several investment bankers at an adjoining table discussing a hot Internet start-up that was about to go public. Smith took a portion of his earnings from the Webber case and bought several hundred shares in Gadgets.com, quadrupling his investment before selling them four months later. Gadgets.com's two founders used the sudden influx of investment capital to outfit their office with modern Danish furniture, in a sale brokered by the New York gallery Modern Now! in 1998. After the ensuing dot-com bust, Modern Now! was forced out of business, and Sotheby's auction house was put in charge of liquidating its inventory. The commission from that auction enabled auctioneer Mary Schafer to retire to the Ozark region of Missouri in 2006. Last month, while passing through Hazelwood, she took her Audi to Marlin Car Wash, where Kellener was one of the employees who tended to her car. She was so satisfied with the job that she left a $50 tip, which the manager divided among the people working that day.

"This money didn't just affect one life," Laffer said. "It affected five."

Prior to joining Marlin Car Wash in 2005, Kellener worked for nearly two decades at a local Ford assembly plant that is now defunct. Before that, he was employed by the FAA as an air traffic controller until his union went on strike and Reagan fired him, along with nearly 13,000 others. This is the largest tip he has received in his professional life.

"I thought Reaganomics was nothing more than a mirage that allowed President Reagan to reward his wealthy support base," Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) said. "But two generations later I am seeing Reaganomics in action, and I like what I see. It just took a little longer than I thought it was supposed to."

The tip has not gone unnoticed by the economic team in the current administration.

"Had Mr. Kellener received that money in 1981, like the Democrats wanted, it would only be worth $4.24 today because of inflation," Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. said during an official announcement of the economic policy's success at a press conference Monday. "Instead, Kellener has a solid $10 to spend right here and now. The system works, and our current president intends to keep making it work."

Kellener, who has cared for his schizophrenic sister ever since her federally funded mental institution was closed in 1984, said that he plans to donate the full $10 to the Republican presidential candidate who best embodies Reagan's legacy.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/reaganomics_finally_trickles_down”

“Ah..... "Arthur Laffer".... I'd almost forgotten.  Such a cruelly appropriate name for that putz.

And somewhere Stratdewd is smiling.... reminiscing about all the luxury fishtanks he installed during his salad days.  But it didn't last.  The Evil Democrats came back and the luxury aquarium biz crashed like a scene from Deuce Bigelow.... and his trickle dried up.

I'm glad somebody finally found Ronnie's double sawbuck, though.   It was MIA for quite some time.”

“Larry Kudlow, who should probably go to the New FBN, has Laffer on all the time on CNBC. He still thinks a service economy can separated the civilization into haves and have nots ,so no middle class teenagers will have to be dealt with in the war industry. Semi citizens will supply most of the military along with christian school officers and foreign militia will take anything we might need.”

“And once again the libbies show the total incompetence of the educational system when it comes to teaching History and Civics.”

“Ha ha !!

I had forgotten about the water trickling out of the luxury fish tank biz.”

“Can you believe they got elected again and tried to pull that crap AGAIN?  If it wasn't so damaging to the country it'd be hilarious.  Talk about dark humor ----

I think I know what their plan was.... but it's a pretty bizarre strategy..... Create such class stratification in this country that potential illegal aliens would rather stay where they are.”

“I know Vicente Fox and Fuego you're no V. Fox. You're not Ws' hero ,as is the big V. with his two tiered economy which is the envy of all tyrants world wide and his endless slave factory whos' natural resources will never be deplete.”

“the other part of the plan was that we would make liberals so sick about living here that they would move out of the country like they were claiming they were going to do. Foiled by the lies of democrats again.”

“The hilarious part is that EACH time the theory of PUTTING MORE MONEY in private citizen's pockets has been tried (or as we call it GRANTING more FREEDOM to citizens) it has resulted in Economic Growth that has even survived socialist attempts to curve it.


Yeah we tried it under Reagan and then Under Bush 43....it worked BOTH times....(LOL)”

“ -- LOL -- ”

“When you place a China tax on Walmart shoppers for borrowing money , get real. Oh , and the Mexican slave tax.

Just because I disagree with you on alot of what you say, you want to paint me as a democrat, because like Rush, that's all you're about.
last edited: 10/17/07 7:48:08 AM”

“That's what I don't get.   If you're not butt-smooching on George, you Must be a Democrat,  .... and a Commie Pinko Heterosexual.

Most people I know have been voting Democratic only because the Republicans are worse (especially lately).  We certainly don't lick George's boots, prepare burnt offerings and whatnot ---- perhaps that's our unforgivable crime.”

“Mr. Fox, be useful and interpret what your prez is saying right now.”

“You geniuses do realize that is from The Onion. LOL”

“Halitosis? Ah?”

“Posted on Mon, Jul. 30, 2007

Congress eyes pay raise for itself
Rob Hotakainen | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: July 30, 2007 06:44:37 AM

WASHINGTON — After raising the minimum wage by 70 cents an hour this week, many members of Congress are ready to give themselves a pay increase of roughly $4,400 per year.

That would take their annual salaries to nearly $170,000.

Campaigning last year, Democratic leaders said it would be wrong for Congress to accept a pay hike until it raised the minimum wage. That happened on Tuesday, when the minimum wage rose from $5.15 to $5.85 per hour; it will reach $7.25 an hour on July 24, 2009.

Cost-of-living increases are automatic for members of Congress unless they’re voted down. The House of Representatives already has cleared the way for such a raise in 2008, but a bipartisan coalition is out to block it, with critics saying the money could be better spent during a time of war and high deficits.

“This is the people’s money, and we need to use it on their priorities,” said Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, who’s co-sponsoring a bill to prevent the raise. “Increasing the pay of members of Congress is not their priority.”

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, said she'd back a similar measure in the Senate.

“I don’t think Congress should get a raise,” she said. “I think it would be a nice thing to tell the American people that we could go a couple years without a raise.”

Under current plans, members of Congress will receive an automatic pay raise, estimated at 2.5 percent, in January. In a show of bipartisan consensus, the House voted 244-181 last month to kill a proposal that would have forced a straight up-or-down vote on the pay increase.

Defending the pay raise on the House floor, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said she was “happy to report that the Democrats kept their promise” in raising the minimum wage for the first time in a decade.

Opponents said a raise for Congress would be ill timed.

“According to the recent polls, Americans don’t like the Congress,” said Rep. Howard Coble, a North Carolina Republican. “Our numbers, lower than President Bush’s numbers, are in the tank. To enact this (cost-of-living increase) will do nothing, in my opinion, to improve our already diminished reputation.”

Rep. Lee Terry, a Nebraska Republican, said congressional popularity is at an all-time low because “viciousness and the partisanship are probably at an all-time record high.” He noted that only two of the first 60 bills the House passed this year were signed into law.

“If we were on a baseball team and we hit two out of 60 . . . we would be sent down to single A ball for such a pathetic percentage,” he said. “So we are not performing well enough to deserve it.”

Republican Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the House minority whip, said most Republicans — “with great discipline” — have resisted using the words “pay raise,” instead preferring to call the increase a cost-of-living allowance.

“Every member has some obligation to the institution for the compensation to, as much as possible, keep pace with inflation,” he said. “I think this should be as good a job when I leave it as it was when I took it.”

Opponents are pushing House leaders to schedule a vote on legislation to block an increase. Two such bills have been introduced in the House, though no votes have been scheduled.

“It’s mystifying to me why the House leadership will not allow a straight up-or-down vote on a pay raise,” said Graves. “I vote against every pay raise because taxpayers deserve better.”

Rep. Nancy Boyda, a Kansas Democrat and another co-sponsor of one of the bills, said “democracy sometimes moves slowly,” but she said she’s hopeful that the House will reconsider its position and block the pay raise.

“In my district, the median wage is still going down, so it just doesn’t seem right for Congress to take care of itself,” Boyda said. “I guess maybe it depends where you’re coming from . . . . If we get a pay raise, I will donate it to charity.”

Congress approved the law making its pay raises automatic in 1989, giving legislators an easy way to avoid tough votes that could hurt them during re-election campaigns. Since then, congressional salaries have nearly doubled, from $89,500 to $165,200 a year.

President Bush is paid $400,000 a year. His salary isn't affected by changes in congressional pay.

Hotakainen reports for The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle.

2007 McClatchy Newspapers”

“The Industrials and S&P are trickling down to my buy back range.hehe”

“Look out for that Claire McCaskill.  She's hell-on-wheels.

Her latest project is a Truman-type Commission to find out where the money went in Iraq ----

”

“Where the money went?

Down a rat hole the size of Texass.”

“I'm ashamed to know people that make fun those fine constrictors- smelling check Marko?hehe”

“Once again the left confuses fiction with fact.”

“Cliff I have never intimated you are a Democrat


A ....Liberal Socialist TWIT...yes but not a DEMOCRAT per se.

But bacpac is right....anyone want to play follow the MONEY with the Clintons....?


OOOH lets start with the Dubai Ports thing..lets see the unregistered (thats a CRIME GUYS) Lobbyist for Dubai is.....

Come on heres a hint, convicted Perjuror, accused rapist.....”

“Guys, guys,......you just don't understand, when Dims steal money, it's OK, just ask vile or tiltypoo.”

“Being called a socialist by an ALL TWIT is the chit. Go lick your Rush photo album. Oh, that right you're into Clinton photos this week.”

“Someday, ALL TWIT you'll understand I could care less about Clinton, Carter, Reagan or #41. They were all as bad as 'W', but did actually get by with smaller F--k ups. Way smaller.

I guess my reading skills aren't up to interpreting our Constitutions' intructions for this country to become the new Roman Empire or maybe Israel West.

Sleep well and don't forget to cash that government check. Ah ALL?”

“YAAAWWWWN...cliffie, Cliffie..Cliffie, why do you insist on following this lost line of insanity. Even an occasional reader will see you are falling apart. You blip through the alleged "F-ups of Carter and Clinton not seeing Carter's incredible incompetence gave us the horrors we face today. Clinton with his feel good (and feel up) mistakes put us in a position where we were UNABLE to respond. Now we have hundreds of thousands of heroes putting their lives on the line in the desperate hope we can stem the threat of islamic fascisim from crossing to our borders.”

“The great Reagan and #41 had 12 years and didn't fix it. Now 'W's' on 7 and he's made it even worse. Now 'W's' holding 350,000 americans hostage in Iraq all because of, gee ,I guess noboby including you,really knows why? Is that Carter or Lincoln or maybe OIL?”

“cliff, ask yourself if those soldiers are truly hostages. We don't live in the era of the draft. They are all volunteers. If anyone is still in the military after all this time and is stupid enough to be surprised to find themselves in a war zone then they aren't worth much more than cannon fodder anyway.”

“Lincoln Town Car.”

“"f anyone is still in the military after all this time and is stupid enough to be surprised to find themselves in a war zone then they aren't worth much more than cannon fodder anyway."

Stupid, huh?”

“Stupid if they join up not expecting to be shot at. But people are still joining. perhaps not in the numbers when you got all the perks without the penalty, but at least the ones joining no what they are getting into.”