The trickle-down delusion : how Republican upward redistribution of economic and political power undermines our economy, democracy, institutions, and health-- and a liberal response

From inside the book: “Since 1980, the economy has been growing, and productivity has been growing, but trickle-down values—that we, the American people promote, pursuant to the Republican Party’s conservative ideology—have rigged the economy to continuously upwardly redistribute those revenues attributable to our increased productivity, yielding a productivity/wage disconnect, resulting in increased concentration of income and wealth at the top, in corporations and among older Americans (beneficiaries of income from Social Security, pensions and investments and continuing income due to delaying retirement), and the lowest percentage of GDP attributable to wages and highest attributable to profits since World War II. But trickle-down has not only distorted our economic thought; it has also distorted our political thought, our sociology and our concept of the rule of law. The result has been that the trickle-down policies promoted by the Republican Party are undermining our economy, democracy, institutions and health.” For further discussion contact author at johnjseip@gmail.com. Preface: a call to action Notes Acknowledgments. Introduction : Triumph of the delusion that to help the middle class and poor policies must help the rich Rebirth of the delusion that to help the middle class and poor policies must help the rich Ideology and terminology The metric and the argument Notes. I. The delusional trickle-down conservative Republican virtual reality bubble and liberal refusal to confront it : 1 The delusional trickle-down conservative Republican virtual reality bubble and the 2012, 2014, and 2016 elections and beyond : The Romney-Ryan campaign: "we built it" on deception Conservatism's moral universe of "makers" versus "takers" Notes. 2 Democrats must elaborate on and sustain an anti-trickle-down narrative to defeat Republicans : Barak Obama versus trickle-down The liberal preference to psychoanalyze The liberal inability to communicate with Middle America Notes. II. The trickle-down delusions : 3 Trickle-down: enabling realization of the dream to make the "holy rollers lie down with the high rollers" The shared authoritarian hierarchical vision of trickle-down conservatism's elements Trickle-down conservatism mirrors Sixties liberalism Notes. 4 Trickle-down conservatism versus the facts : Facts confronting the delusions supporting the trickle-down delusion How the facts of trickle-down's failure were hidden in economic theory Notes. 5 Trickle-down conservatism versus the classical liberalism it claims for inspiration : Liberal Democracy's trickle-up vision versus the illiberal vision of trickle-down How trickle-down conservatism undermines liberal democracy The parallel evolutions (for the worse) of Hayek and conservatism Notes. 6 Trick-down conservatism versus public opinion : The view from inside the bubble: stay with trickle-down course A call for a conservatism that is fact based, not faith based Notes. 7 A narrative of trickle-down failure: the productivity/wage disconnect : The productivity/wage disconnect Failure to share the revenues from productivity growth yields massive growth in inequality Models illustrating the effects of trickle-down Austerity causes slow growth, which increases deficits A summary narrative of trickle-down failure Notes. 8 Trickle-down's rule of law: power to the propertied and powerful : Introduction to the rule of law The privilege accompanying property ownership Institutionalization of the political process as a "free market" - rigged in favor of the propertied The Bush v. Gore "second bite" doctrine enunciating equal protection weighted in favor of the propertied How "freedom" becomes an anti-democratic bludgeon wielded on behalf of the propertied Extending the rule of the propertied and powerful by other means The rule of law in the "war on terror" Notes. III. Trickle-up: the way the world really works : 9 The information revolution, globalization and trickle-down versus the poor and middle class : The importance of a job to social status and self-esteem The negative effects of the information revolution and globalization compounded by trickle-down Why the conservative culture of poverty theory fails Notes. 10 How liberal institutions work for the poor and middle class : Institutions both constrain and leverage THe constancy of connectedness and conflict how institutions help us prevent self-interest from destroying humanity Institutions as mediating structures and how conservatism undermines them Illiberal democracy and totalitarianism "Coercive democracy" or the "shock doctrine:" trickle-down's ignorance of the importance of institutions applied abroad with missionary zeal maximizing institutional functioning Notes. 11 The liberal value of equality and why government policies must support a strong middle class : Inequality undermines our economy, democracy, institutions and health Inequality undermines economic growth, social mobility and economic and socio-political stability Equality is a matter of life and death because inequality impairs health and shortens life spans The necessity of a strong middle class in theory and in evidence Conclusion: inequality causes inequality and other problems, requiring government solutions Notes. 12 The liberal values of checks and balances, knowledge, tolerance, peace and the rule of low : The system of societal checks and balances Respect for knowledge Tolerance Peace and nonviolent resistance Rule of law Conclusion: liberal values are necessary complements to capitalism and democracy Notes. 13 Trickle-up: a bottom-up, post-bubble economic growth model based on growing the middle class : The trick-up - liberal - vision: to help the middle class and poor, help the middle class and poor Preliminary thoughts on liberalism and trickle-up Trickle-up theory from Smith, Tocqueville and others A trickle-up narrative Notes. 14 Liberal reclaiming of the American dream : Domestic policy recommendations "If you want to live like a Republican, you have to vote Democrat!" Notes. Appendix. Index. Since 1980, the economy has been growing, and productivity has been growing, but trickle-down values - that we, the American people promote, pursuant to the Republican Party's conservative ideology - have rigged the economy to continuously upwardly redistribute those revenues attributable to our increased productivity, yielding a productivity/wage disconnect, resulting in increased concentration of income and wealth at the top, in corporations and among older Americans (beneficiaries of income from Social Security, pensions and investments and continuing income due to delaying retirement), and the lowest percentage of GDP attributable to wages and highest attributable to profits since World War II. But trickle-down has not only distorted our economic thought; it has also distorted our political thought, our sociology and our concept of the rule of law. The result has been that the trickle-down policies promoted by the Republican Party are undermining our economy, democracy, institutions and health. Trickle-down values have distorted not only our economic thought but also our political thought, our sociology and our concept of the rule of law. The trickle-down policies promoted by the Republican Party are undermining our economy, democracy, institutions and health. We, the American people, must return to liberalism that works.