Obama throws Rev Wright under the bus

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Video from today's public announcement:

[joelunchbox 0]

It looks more like Wright is trying to throw Obama under. Apparently, Obama should have run away from this ....idiot? months..no, years ago.

[MandR 0]

I was just watching a news conference on TV. He just totally disowned Rev Wright. He looked very nervous. He was stammering, stuttering and every other word was "um". He said that "nothing that Rev Wright said yesterday was constructive". Ok, he did it. He has disowned him. I still have to wonder how someone can sit in a church for 20 years and not understand what the preacher stood for. This isn't over, not by a long shot.

And this is the man so many want for President.

A man who looks nervous, stammering, stuttering and every other word an um when he has to disown his pastor and to top it off it nearly took him 6 weeks to do it.

What in the world will he do when he really has to stand up to the likes of Iran, North Korea etc. He will fold like a kite and fall to the ground shaking and that will be after 6 weeks of watching and waiting....

PLEASE people see the light at the end of the tunnell................. Obama is all sweet talk and no experience. When it comes down to pressure and the nitty gritty he can't handle the heat. Case in point with the last debate.... He mumbled and stumbled when under pressure.

Edited April 30, 2008 by MandR

[HAL 9000 96]

Video from today's public announcement:

Yeah he definitely looks plain old bored with the same BS (um, because that's what it is )over and over. Too bad cheap shots are made up of this stuff and I'll not be surprised if the "issues" that the more sensational hate mongers out there focus on will be of this ilk. I guess he can continue to take the higher road and campaign on issues as he does while campaigning.

[GaryC 7]

Video from today's public announcement:

Yeah he definitely looks plain old bored with the same BS (um, because that's what it is )over and over. Too bad cheap shots are made up of this stuff and I'll not be surprised if the "issues" that the more sensational hate mongers out there focus on will be of this ilk. I guess he can continue to take the higher road and campaign on issues as he does while campaigning.

The problem for Obama on the issues is he has no real platform other than some generic "change". It's all just empty rhetoric. Since his only appeal is his charisma that is why stuff like this hurts him so much. If he had a solid platform based on real issues this would all blow over quickly.

[HAL 9000 96]

Video from today's public announcement:

Yeah he definitely looks plain old bored with the same BS (um, because that's what it is )over and over. Too bad cheap shots are made up of this stuff and I'll not be surprised if the "issues" that the more sensational hate mongers out there focus on will be of this ilk. I guess he can continue to take the higher road and campaign on issues as he does while campaigning.

The problem for Obama on the issues is he has no real platform other than some generic "change". It's all just empty rhetoric. Since his only appeal is his charisma that is why stuff like this hurts him so much. If he had a solid platform based on real issues this would all blow over quickly.

Actually listen to his campaigning, Gary, and go beyond the media boo ha ha that is reporting what you want to hear and check out what he stands for. I mean, being a fan of Op Chaos doesn't exempt you from being factual.

Issues, anyone?

[GaryC 7]

Video from today's public announcement:

Yeah he definitely looks plain old bored with the same BS (um, because that's what it is )over and over. Too bad cheap shots are made up of this stuff and I'll not be surprised if the "issues" that the more sensational hate mongers out there focus on will be of this ilk. I guess he can continue to take the higher road and campaign on issues as he does while campaigning.

The problem for Obama on the issues is he has no real platform other than some generic "change". It's all just empty rhetoric. Since his only appeal is his charisma that is why stuff like this hurts him so much. If he had a solid platform based on real issues this would all blow over quickly.

Actually listen to his campaigning, Gary, and go beyond the media boo ha ha that is reporting what you want to hear and check out what he stands for. I mean, being a fan of Op Chaos doesn't exempt you from being factual.

Issues, anyone?

I pay very close attention to what he says. He says nothing. He stands for nothing. It's all just talk. I can't believe your taken in by his flowery talk.

[HAL 9000 96]

Video from today's public announcement:

Yeah he definitely looks plain old bored with the same BS (um, because that's what it is )over and over. Too bad cheap shots are made up of this stuff and I'll not be surprised if the "issues" that the more sensational hate mongers out there focus on will be of this ilk. I guess he can continue to take the higher road and campaign on issues as he does while campaigning.

The problem for Obama on the issues is he has no real platform other than some generic "change". It's all just empty rhetoric. Since his only appeal is his charisma that is why stuff like this hurts him so much. If he had a solid platform based on real issues this would all blow over quickly.

Actually listen to his campaigning, Gary, and go beyond the media boo ha ha that is reporting what you want to hear and check out what he stands for. I mean, being a fan of Op Chaos doesn't exempt you from being factual.

Issues, anyone?

I pay very close attention to what he says. He says nothing. He stands for nothing. It's all just talk. I can't believe your taken in by his flowery talk.

Here's a compendium, Gary:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/

April showers bring May flowers.

[GaryC 7]

Video from today's public announcement:

Yeah he definitely looks plain old bored with the same BS (um, because that's what it is )over and over. Too bad cheap shots are made up of this stuff and I'll not be surprised if the "issues" that the more sensational hate mongers out there focus on will be of this ilk. I guess he can continue to take the higher road and campaign on issues as he does while campaigning.

The problem for Obama on the issues is he has no real platform other than some generic "change". It's all just empty rhetoric. Since his only appeal is his charisma that is why stuff like this hurts him so much. If he had a solid platform based on real issues this would all blow over quickly.

Actually listen to his campaigning, Gary, and go beyond the media boo ha ha that is reporting what you want to hear and check out what he stands for. I mean, being a fan of Op Chaos doesn't exempt you from being factual.

Issues, anyone?

I pay very close attention to what he says. He says nothing. He stands for nothing. It's all just talk. I can't believe your taken in by his flowery talk.

Here's a compendium, Gary:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/

April showers bring May flowers.

I am on Obamas web site right now. All I see are potatoes, no meat. Nothing but generic promises that do very little but make people feel good. You may be gullible enough to think this is a platform, I am not impressed at all.

[GaryC 7]

Mav, lets get down to real issues here. The economy is #1 with most voters. Lets compare Obama and McCain's stands as laid out on the site you provided.

Obama:

Would pump $75 billion into the economy via tax cuts and direct spending targeted to working families, seniors, homeowners and the unemployed. The plan also includes $45 billion in reserves that can be injected into the economy quickly in the future if the economy continues to deteriorate. Would provide an immediate $250 tax cut for workers and their families and an immediate, temporary $250 bonus to seniors in their Social Security checks. Would provide an additional $250 tax cut to workers and an additional $250 to seniors if the economy continues to worsen. Would extend and expand unemployment insurance.

McCain:

Would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. Would allow first-year deduction of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.

Ok, first Obama. You do realize that $75 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall economy? His main thrust is to give a $250 tax cut to workers. Wow! That should really help!

Now McCain. By lowering the corporate tax rate 10% companies would have more money to hire new people and to invest in more equipment. After all, the goal is to get more people working isn't it? Who hires people? Corporations do. Allowing a company to deduct equipment and R&D costs means more modern equipment and better productivity.

Tell me, where is the meat and where is the potatoes in these two platforms?

[HAL 9000 96]

Mav, lets get down to real issues here. The economy is #1 with most voters. Lets compare Obama and McCain's stands as laid out on the site you provided.

Obama:

Would pump $75 billion into the economy via tax cuts and direct spending targeted to working families, seniors, homeowners and the unemployed. The plan also includes $45 billion in reserves that can be injected into the economy quickly in the future if the economy continues to deteriorate. Would provide an immediate $250 tax cut for workers and their families and an immediate, temporary $250 bonus to seniors in their Social Security checks. Would provide an additional $250 tax cut to workers and an additional $250 to seniors if the economy continues to worsen. Would extend and expand unemployment insurance.

McCain:

Would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. Would allow first-year deduction of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.

Ok, first Obama. You do realize that $75 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall economy? His main thrust is to give a $250 tax cut to workers. Wow! That should really help!

Now McCain. By lowering the corporate tax rate 10% companies would have more money to hire new people and to invest in more equipment. After all, the goal is to get more people working isn't it? Who hires people? Corporations do. Allowing a company to deduct equipment and R&D costs means more modern equipment and better productivity.

Tell me, where is the meat and where is the potatoes in these two platforms?

Yeah, lets see some meat:

As for tax payers (you and me), since you said you were on Obama's site:

Barack Obama's Plan

Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief

Obama will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.

* Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

* Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.

What McCain proposes is not for individual tax payers but a sad attempt at trickle down economics that does not guarantee corporate benefits directly on US Citizens. In theory it is not the worst approach, but more corporate tax breaks means more profits for corporate boards, not payroll.

[SaadBell 0]

McCain:

Would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. Would allow first-year deduction of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.

Must have forgotten Economics 101 from college, real easy to break this little one down to two words, the trickle down system, we tried it, great for rich FAT cats, but for regular folks, take a seat cause it is well known fact, it takes a long time for the little pieces, and I mean little pieces to trickle down. Been done during the Bush's father was in office, we need some new ideas, not these old ones that make the rich richer, all the while fooling people who are not as educated, to think they are being taken care of. OPEN YOUR EYES

[GaryC 7]

Mav, lets get down to real issues here. The economy is #1 with most voters. Lets compare Obama and McCain's stands as laid out on the site you provided.

Obama:

Would pump $75 billion into the economy via tax cuts and direct spending targeted to working families, seniors, homeowners and the unemployed. The plan also includes $45 billion in reserves that can be injected into the economy quickly in the future if the economy continues to deteriorate. Would provide an immediate $250 tax cut for workers and their families and an immediate, temporary $250 bonus to seniors in their Social Security checks. Would provide an additional $250 tax cut to workers and an additional $250 to seniors if the economy continues to worsen. Would extend and expand unemployment insurance.

McCain:

Would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. Would allow first-year deduction of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.

Ok, first Obama. You do realize that $75 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall economy? His main thrust is to give a $250 tax cut to workers. Wow! That should really help!

Now McCain. By lowering the corporate tax rate 10% companies would have more money to hire new people and to invest in more equipment. After all, the goal is to get more people working isn't it? Who hires people? Corporations do. Allowing a company to deduct equipment and R&D costs means more modern equipment and better productivity.

Tell me, where is the meat and where is the potatoes in these two platforms?

Yeah, lets see some meat:

As for tax payers (you and me), since you said you were on Obama's site:

Barack Obama's Plan

Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief

Obama will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.

* Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

* Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.

What McCain proposes is not for individual tax payers but a sad attempt at trickle down economics that does not guarantee corporate benefits directly on US Citizens. In theory it is not the worst approach, but more corporate tax breaks means more profits for corporate boards, not payroll.

So revamping the tax code will help the economy? How? I agree that the tax code is unfair but we are talking about the economy here. How will any of this put more people to work? How will anything here create more jobs? How will any of this encourage business to stay in the country? This is just pandering as far as I can see with no real solutions to the overall problem.

McCain also talks about lowering taxes. But he does much more than that. People must have a job before a tax cut means anything. McCain addresses that on his web site. Tell me where the beef really is here.

Cutting Taxes For The Middle Class:

John McCain Will Cut Taxes For Middle Class Families. John McCain will permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax(AMT) – a tax that will be paid nearly exclusively by 25 million middle class families. Repealing this onerous tax will save middle class families nearly $60 billion in a single year. Under McCain's plan, a middle class family with children set to pay the AMT will save an average of over $2,700 – a real tax cut for working families.

John McCain Will Double The Personal Exemption For Dependents. John McCain believes the tax code should be less of a burden on those, whether they are mothers and fathers or single parents, who are trying to raise a family. He proposes to raise the personal exemption for each dependent from $3,500 to $7,000.

Pro-Growth Tax Policy:

John McCain Will Keep Tax Rates Low. Entrepreneurs are at the heart of American innovation, growth and prosperity. They create the ultimate job security – a new, better opportunity if your current job goes away. Entrepreneurs should not be taxed into submission. John McCain will maintain the current income and investment tax rates and fight the Democrats' plans for a crippling tax increase in 2011. Left to their devices, Democrats will impose a massive $100 billion tax hike, almost $700 per taxpayer every year. John McCain has also long sought permanent and immediate reform of the estate tax, and supports raising the exemption from taxation on estates up to $10 million while cutting the tax rate to 15 percent.

John McCain Will Make It Harder To Raise Taxes. John McCain believes it should require a 3/5 majority vote in Congress to raise taxes.

John McCain Will Reward Saving, Investment And Risk-Taking. Low taxes on dividends and capital gains promote saving, channel investment dollars to innovative, high-value uses and not wasteful financial planning. John McCain will keep the current rates on dividends and capital gains and fight anti-growth efforts by Democrats.

John McCain Will Improve Business Investment Incentives. John McCain proposes to permit corporations to immediately deduct the cost of equipment investment, providing a valuable pro-growth investment incentive. Expensing of equipment and technology will provide an immediate boost to capital expenditures and reward investments in cutting-edge technologies.

Tax Cuts On American Employers:

John McCain Will Reduce The Federal Corporate Tax Rate To 25 Percent From 35 Percent. John McCain believes the taxes we impose on American companies should be no higher than the average rate our major trading partners impose on theirs. We currently have the second-highest combined corporate-tax rate in the industrialized world, and it is driving many businesses and the jobs they create overseas.

Pro-Innovation Tax Cuts:

John McCain Will Ban Internet Taxes. John McCain has been a leader in keeping the Internet free of taxes. As President, he will seek a permanent ban on taxes that threaten this engine of economic growth and prosperity.

John McCain Will Ban New Cell Phone Taxes. John McCain understands that the same people that would tax e-mail will tax every text message – and even 911 calls. John McCain will prohibit new cellular telephone taxes.

John McCain Will Establish Permanent Tax Credit Equal To 10 Percent Of Wages Spent On R&D. This reform will simplify the tax code, reward activity in the U.S., and make us more competitive with other countries. A permanent credit will provide an incentive to innovate and remove uncertainty. At a time when our companies need to be more competitive, we need to provide a permanent incentive to innovate, and remove the uncertainty now hanging over businesses as they make R&D investment decisions.

Retirement Tax Cut:

John McCain Will Act To Lower Medicare Premiums. Seniors face a growing threat from higher Medicare premiums that tax away their Social Security and retirement savings. John McCain has proposed comprehensive, pro-market health care and Medicare reforms to reduce health care costs and control increases in premiums – while delivering high-quality health care.

A Real Choice For Simpler Taxes:

John McCain Will Propose An Alternative New And Simpler Tax System – And Give America A Real Choice. When this reform is enacted, all who wish to stay under the current system could still do so, but everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a generous standard deduction. Americans do not resent paying their rightful share of taxes – what they do resent is being subjected to thousands of pages of needless and often irrational rules and demands from the IRS.

Wasteful spending in Washington has gone from irresponsible to indefensible. Right now, even the government reports that one-fifth of programs are receiving failing marks. John McCain will restore the trust that Americans have lost in their government spending their hard earned money wisely.

Eliminating Wasteful Spending:

John McCain Will Stop Earmarks, Pork-Barrel Spending, And Waste. He will veto every pork-laden spending bill and make their authors famous. As President, he will seek the line-item veto to reduce waste and eliminate earmarks that have led to corruption. Unlike Senators Clinton and Obama who have sought a nearly combined $3 billion in earmarks, John McCain has a clear record of not asking for earmarks. Earmarks restrict America's ability to address genuine national priorities and interfere with fair, competitive markets.

John McCain Proposes A One-Year Spending Pause To Evaluate Programs. He believes that outside of essential military and veterans programs there should be a one-year pause in discretionary spending growth that should be used for a top-to-bottom review of the effectiveness of federal programs.

John McCain Has The Leadership And Courage To Make The Right Spending Choices. Reduced spending means making choices. John McCain will not leave office without balancing the federal budget. He will not do it with smoke and mirrors. When he leaves office, he wants to leave a budget that stays balanced after he is gone, and can weather the occasional downturn and unexpected contingency. John McCain will provide the courageous leadership necessary to control spending, including:

* Eliminate Broken Government Programs. The federal government itself admits that one in five programs do not perform.

* Reform Our Civil Service System To Promote Accountability And Good Performance In Our Federal Workforce.

* Eliminating Earmarks, Wasteful Subsidies And Pork-Barrel Spending.

* Reform Procurement Programs And Cut Wasteful Spending In Defense And Non-Defense Programs.

Budgetary Reform To Give Tax Cuts A Fair Chance:

John McCain Will Reform Budgeting To Treat Equally Spending And Taxes And To Stop Damaging Tax Hikes. Congress has unfairly stacked the deck to spend more and raise taxes. If a spending program is on the books, budgets assume that it is on the books forever – and continues to grow – even if the law says it expires. If low taxes are on the books, budgets don't assume that they last forever. When they expire, those taxes are automatically raised.

Reforming Entitlement Programs For The 21st Century:

John McCain Will Reform Social Security. He will fight to save the future of Social Security while meeting our obligations to the retirees of today and the future without raising taxes. John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts – but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. He will reach across the aisle, but if the Democrats do not act, he will. John McCain will not leave office without fixing the problems that threatens our future prosperity.

John McCain Will Act To Control Medicare Growth. The growth of spending on Medicare threatens our fiscal future. John McCain has proposed comprehensive health care reforms that will reduce the growth in Medicare spending, protect seniors against rising Medicare premium payments, and preserve the advancements in medical science central to providing quality care.

John McCain Believes That We Should Not Subsidize The Prescription Drugs Of America’s Most Affluent Individuals. He will propose reforms to reduce the large subsidies in the Medicare drug program.

John McCain believes that global trade is an opportunity for American workers today and in the future.

John McCain Will Lower Barriers To Trade. Ninety-five percent of the world's customers lie outside our borders and we need to be at the table when the rules for access to those markets are written. To do so, the U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules. These steps would also strengthen the U.S. dollar and help to control the rising cost of living that hurts our families.

John McCain Will Act To Make American Workers More Competitive. We must prepare the next generation of workers by making American education worthy of the promise we make to our children and ourselves. We must be a nation committed to competitiveness and opportunity. We must fight for the ability of all students to have access to any school of demonstrated excellence. We must place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children.

Job security may well be the most pressing problem confronting Americans. Jobs are in jeopardy and the government backstop is not up to the task. For more than a year, John McCain has been calling for comprehensive reform of our unemployment insurance and displaced worker programs.

Reforming The Unemployment Insurance (UI) System:

John McCain Believes We Should Have A Single, Seamless Approach To Job Transition Assistance. The UI system must be more effective in helping those who have lost a job. John McCain will modernize and transform our current programs by consolidating redundant federal programs, strengthening community colleges and technical training and giving displaced workers more choices to find their way back to productive and prosperous lives.

John McCain Will Reform The UI System So That A Portion Of Each Worker's Unemployment Insurance Tax Is Deposited Into A Lost Earnings Buffer Account (LEB). If an individual becomes unemployed, the LEB may be used to cover needed expenses, with a backstop of traditional UI if the account is exhausted before 26 weeks. Workers will have an incentive to preserve their LEB by getting back to work quickly, and may be eligible for a re-employment bonus if they get a new job quickly. The LEB will be portable, and upon retirement, the property of the worker.

John McCain Will Reform Training Programs To Provide Quick Assistance To Workers Seeking New Skills. Workers will have access to a flexible training account that permits them to pay for training at a community college and use leftover funds to keep their health insurance.

John McCain Will Provide Special, Targeted Assistance For Older Workers. Because training is often inefficient for older workers, those 55 years of age and older who have built up an LEB will be eligible for a Lost Earnings Supplement. The supplement of up to 50 percent of their earnings loss (up to a maximum of $10,000) for two years will be rewarded for those who find work inside 26 weeks.

[GaryC 7]

McCain:

Would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. Would allow first-year deduction of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D.

Must have forgotten Economics 101 from college, real easy to break this little one down to two words, the trickle down system, we tried it, great for rich FAT cats, but for regular folks, take a seat cause it is well known fact, it takes a long time for the little pieces, and I mean little pieces to trickle down. Been done during the Bush's father was in office, we need some new ideas, not these old ones that make the rich richer, all the while fooling people who are not as educated, to think they are being taken care of. OPEN YOUR EYES

Is your only motivation class envy? The more you speak the more I realize how little you really understand. Just who do you think employs people? Without business you wouldn't have a job. I guess your idea of utopia is the classic communist society. The government owns everything, dictates everything and all us little workers get the same piece of the pie. Your have some scary ideas lady.

[SaadBell 0]

So do you think Franklin Delano Roosevelt had scary ideas also? You must be a very wealthy young man, happy for you, but I am a working stiff, and these major corporate’s are making insane amounts of money off the back of good working American people. My ideas are scary, how, health care for everyone, for the baby who is sick with a fever in the middle of the night and parents have nowhere to take this baby, no health care, or money. Yea I am one scary lady, children rights. Unions are dying away, as these big wigs start to have a monopoly on the whole economics of this world. You are the kind of person they are looking for, someone to fight for the rich. I think people should make a good wage, enough in order to purchase a nice home. Is that scary to have an idea that if you work really hard in this country, gave time and your life for this country, that if you do the right thing, you should not have to make a choice between dog food or chicken for your evening dinner. You are right I do have very scary ideas.

"Trickle-down economics" and "trickle-down theory," is a term used in political rhetoric to classify economic policies perceived to primarily benefit the wealthy and then "trickle-down" to the middle and lower classes. The theory states that if the top income earners invest more into the business infrastructure and equity markets, it will in turn lead to more goods at lower prices, and create more jobs for middle and lower class individuals. This sentiment is captured in John F. Kennedy's argument, "a rising tide floats all boats". Proponents argue economic growth flows down from the top to the bottom, indirectly benefiting those who do not directly benefit from the policy changes. However, others have argued that "trickle-down" policies generally do not work,[1] and that the trickle-down effect might be very slim.[2]

Today "trickle-down economics" is most closely identified with the economic policies, known as Reaganomics or supply-side economics. Originally, there was a great deal of support for tax reform; there was a dual problem that loopholes and tax shelters create a bureaucracy (private sector and public sector) and that relevant taxes are thus evaded. Reagan, in 1984 cut taxes by 5%. In order to spur business, Bill Clinton lowered taxes for the wealthy another 3%.[3] In the early years of 2001, George W. Bush, lowered taxes again for the wealthy by 4%. To this day, the tax rate is currently at an all-time low at 18%, many economists generally favor simplifications and generally reform in the tax code[citation needed]. A major feature of these policies was the reduction of tax rates on capital gains, corporate income, and higher individual incomes, along with the reduction or elimination of various excise taxes. David Stockman, who as Reagan's budget director championed these cuts but then became skeptical of them, told journalist William Greider that the term "supply-side economics" was used to promote a trickle-down idea.[4]

“ It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down,' so the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down.' Supply-side is 'trickle-down' theory. [5] - David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director ”

The term "trickle-down" comes from an analogy with a phenomenon in marketing, the trickle-down effect

The ideas derided as "trickle-down economics" are often seen as a major rhetorical variant of "what's good for business and the rich is good for the country." In this form they have been ridiculed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as "toryism." The economist John Kenneth Galbraith noted that "trickle-down economics" had been tried before in the United States in the 1890s under the name "horse and sparrow theory": "if you feed enough oats to the horse, some will pass through to feed the sparrows." Galbraith claimed that the horse and sparrow theory was partly to blame for the Panic of 1896.[12]