Budget Blues

More money for the wealthy does not mean more food for the poor.

   On Tuesday, the president is to release his budget plan for the coming fiscal year, featuring a goal to balance federal income and expenses in ten years.
   Early reports estimate that there will be major cuts in social safety programs, along with major reductions in taxes and regulations.
   So far, it sounds like a replay of trickle down economics, which claims that tax breaks for the wealthy means more money available for investment, production and jobs.
   The last time this was tried, however, in the name of stimulating economic growth, it was called Reaganomics and voodoo economics, and the result was a slide into recession and deeper debt.
   Tax cuts for the wealthy don't lead to economic growth. Instead, the beneficiaries stash the extra funds in their own bank accounts. And banks, rather than increase their loan volume, use the additional cash to shore up their bottom line, boost shareholder value, and hike salaries and bonuses for top executives.
   Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is relatively healthy and growing at a good, albeit modest, pace of about 2 percent annually. But since it's a mature economy, a sudden or rapid spurt can be hazardous to its health.
   And despite claims by the Braggart in Chief about saving jobs,  some major American firms are cutting their payrolls to boost corporate profits.
   Partly they can do this because worker productivity is up and unit labor cost is down, according to a summary by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
   Overall, unemployment rates were lower in April in 10 states, higher in 1 state and stable in 39 states and the District of Columbia, the BLS said. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. In Colorado, the jobless rate was 2.3 percent, the lowest in the nation, followed by Hawaii and North Dakota, at 2.7 percent each. Alaska posted the highest unemployment rate, 6.6 percent.
   Over the year, 28 states had increases in nonfarm payroll employment, the BLS said.
   And a report by the Federal Reserve Board said "Americans' financial well-being in 2016 continued on a modest upward path, although the improvement was less pronounced for those with less education."
   So as the resident cynic Pug Mahoney insists, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
   But cutting taxes for those who already have plenty, while those who don't are just beginning to feel a bit better about their economic health face rising costs and less social welfare help when needed, presents an economic dichotomy that will quickly lead to friction between the Haves and the Have Less groups in America.
   In short, by whatever name it's called -- trickle down economics, supply side economics, Reaganomics, and now Trumponomics -- such a strategy quite simply does not work, and only leads to an economic bust rather than boom.
   To insist otherwise is to mislead the public down a two-lane fiscal road where the wealthy accelerate their already expensive vehicles and leave average household trundling along in the economic slow lane.