tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post3492570901589570935..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Private propertyRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-55369393023573622532008-10-19T21:56:00.000-04:002008-10-19T21:56:00.000-04:00Let us also remember that when the "Christian" soc...Let us also remember that when the "Christian" socialist says that they want more government programs to help the "poor," they are actually asking us to outsource our righteousness to another party, usually unbelieving humanists who will tell the poor that they are victims of "their environment," "white society," "the rich," etc. instead of telling them that (in most cases) it has been their sins or (more generally) their unwise decisions that have kept them down.Saint and Sinnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14166699860672840738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-48222917847357842542008-10-19T13:50:00.000-04:002008-10-19T13:50:00.000-04:00I was going to quote some of the same material. B...I was going to quote some of the same material. Beat me to it, Mark Pendray.Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784922935749497931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-8766229399857359152008-10-19T10:18:00.000-04:002008-10-19T10:18:00.000-04:00Maybe Victor will find this helpful?http://www.nat...Maybe Victor will find this helpful?<BR/><BR/>http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Trickle-down-effect<BR/><BR/>Criticism of the term "trickle down"<BR/><BR/>In his book Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, economist Thomas Sowell fleshes out his criticism that the term "trickle down" is a mischaracterization of conservative economic views:<BR/><BR/><BR/>"There have been many economic theories over the centuries, accompanied by contraversies among different schools of economists. But one of the most politically prominent economic theories today is one that has never existed among economists - the "trickle down" theory.<BR/><BR/><BR/>"People who are politically committed to policies of redistributing income and who tend to emphasize the conflicts between business and labor, rather than their mutual interdependence, often accuse those opposed to them of believing that benefits must be given to the wealthy in general or to business in particular, in order that these benefits will eventually "trickle down" to the masses of ordinary people. But no recognized economist of any school of thought has ever had any such theory or made any such proposal. It is a straw man. It cannot be found in even the most voluminous and learned histories of economic theories.<BR/><BR/><BR/>"Proposals to reduce taxes on capital gains, for example, are often opposed politically by saying that those who make such proposals believe in a "trickle down" theory of economics. In reality, economic processes work in the directly opposite way from that depicted by those who imagine that profits first benefit business owners and that benefits only belatedly trickle down to workers.<BR/><BR/><BR/>"When an investment is made, whether to build a railroad or to open a new restaurant, the first money is spent hiring people to do the work. Without that, nothing happens. Even when one person decides to operate a store or hamburger stand without employees, that person must first pay somebody to deliver the goods that are going to be sold. Money goes out first to pay expenses and then comes back as profits later - if at all. The high rate of failure of new businesses makes painfully clear that there is nothing inevitable about the money coming back. "Even with successful and well-established businesses, years may elapse between the initial investment and the return of earnings. From the time when an oil company begins spending money to explore for petroleum to the time when the first gasoline resulting from that exploration comes out of a pump at a filling station, a decade may have passed. In the meantime, all sorts of employees have been paid - geologists, engineers, refinery workers, truck drivers. It is only afterwrads that profits begin coming in. [...]<BR/><BR/><BR/>"In short, the sequence of payments is directly the opposite of what is assumed by those who talk about a "trickle-down" theory. The workers must be paid first and then the profits flow upward later - if at all." (Basic Economics, pp. 388-389)Claudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16705428441316701050noreply@blogger.com