Money Trickles Up and Austerity for All

First, don't take it from me that we should raise taxes on the rich, listen to one of their own:

Warren Buffett: "I think that people at the high end, people like myself, should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it ... The rich are always going to say that, you know, 'Just give us more money, and we'll go out and spend more, and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you.’ But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on."

So it should not surprise you that the opposite of what the Republicans say is true, it is the rule, not the exception. The great "Trickle Down Effect". In the past 40 years the taxes for the super wealthy in this country have been slashed dramatically - Reagan took them from around 70% down to around 30%. The idea, as Buffet said, you give rich people money, they spend it, it ends up trickling down to everyone else.

In reality, money trickles up. Look at the wealth that is accumulated in monarchies, in churches, in Swiss bank accounts. Most people I know spend all the money they earn. Poor people spend all their money on life necessities. Middle class people spend all their money on slightly higher quality necessities and some luxuries like cars, TVs, iPods, travel, mechanics, doctors, etc. There is all this money flowing through the economy but it stops flowing and collects in large pools - the bank accounts of the corporate CEO class of this nation. Look at Meg Whitman - she made Billions of dollars being CEO of e-bay. She has so much extra money that tricked up to her that she blew $140 million trying to become governor of a state that was too smart to elect her.

CEOs make hundreds of millions of dollars a year! This is thousands of times what I make as a teacher in the highest paying school around. Is what they do for our country thousands of times more valuable than what I do? Why should all this wealth be allowed to trickle up into there hands?

Warren Buffet says it: "We have it better than we’ve ever had it". The CEOs of the wall street banks that needed taxpayer bailouts - those CEOs are making record salaries - during a recession which has record unempl0yment (depression levels in some states) , increasing families losing their homes, record demand for food at food banks and shelters. The CEOs of health insurance companies are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year in profit - which they accumulate in their bank accounts - while American families are going bankrupt and even dying because they can't afford the cost of medical care or insurance.

The number of billionaires in this country and the world is soaring, even now during the recession - the US has I think around 1,400 billionaires now compared to I think about 40, 30 years ago. Hell the guy who created Facebook (actually the guy who stole the idea of Facebook) is worth four billion dollars ans is the youngest billionaire in the world.

Money trickles up and we are seeing the fasted consolidation of wealth the world has ever seen. Let people get rich - If you take half of Zuckerberg's 4 billion he will still be doing alright, and maybe our government could put it towards anti online bullying education which things like Facebook have made a sad reality of this new digital age.

I hear so much about Austerity measures! Cut government spending - the Republicans are going to push for that. The IMF is reaming Ireland, telling them to cut unemployment and minimum wage.

Balance the books on the backs of the poor and working class - that is what is happening, while the rich have never had it better. I say lets at the very least have Austerity for ALL, if we need austerity. Austerity seems like a smart idea when you have over spent. But is it the best way to get out of a recession?

Take away minimum wage, and other things that help the poorest people, cut spending and lay off government workers, how does that help us get out of the recession?

End of rant