Quote of the Day: "White man cuts off end of rug, sews it to other end, thinks rug is longer."
-- an old Native American joke about "daylight savings time"

Subject: Trickle-down hypocrisy

The Democrats sneer at Republican proposals to cut upper-bracket tax rates. They call it trickle-down economics. But the Democrat's stimulus plan is trickle-down economics too.

Much of the spending will go to huge institutions like construction companies and research firms. It will have to trickle-down from there to the rest of us.

When Democratic politicians talk about the "multiplier effect" of government spending, what they're really saying is "I believe in trickle-down economics."

The Republicans are just as bad. They may like tax cuts, but they also run huge deficits. The money they borrow can't be used by businesses to expand production and hiring. The Republicans negate the economic benefit of their tax cuts through the economic harm of their borrowing.

When Republican politicians say "deficits don't matter," as they constantly do, what they're really saying is "the benefits of deficit spending will trickle-down to the taxpayers." 

Both parties believe in trickle-down economics. Both parties think they can cut off one end of the economic rug, sew it to the other end, and the rug will be longer.

We think differently.

The economic rug only grows longer through wise investing, and that's much more likely to happen when people spend and invest their own money.

The only way to stimulate the economy is to deny money to the politicians and let those who actually earned the money decide how to spend or invest it. What we really need are massive tax cuts and massive spending cuts.

It won't be easy to make this happen, but it can never happen unless you insist upon it. What YOU WANT must trickle-up to the politicians.

If you desire it, first you must ask for it. Doing so will make the politicians nervous. If you also ask others to join you in pressuring Congress, and do this repeatedly for long enough, the Downsize DC Army will gain the strength to overwhelm the politicians. This will move the politicians from anxiety over your protests to submission to your wishes.

The Senate is now debating the stimulus/scam bill. The Republicans could block the bill. They need your encouragement to do so. But if the bill passes the Senate then both chambers will have to vote again on a unified House-Senate version. This means it's still important to keep pressuring your House member too.

Please use our quick and easy Educate the Powerful System to tell all of our elected Representatives to oppose the stimulus bill.

You can use your personal comments to tell Congress that the "stimulus" bill is just a form of trickle-down economics that uses government spending instead of tax cuts. Tell them you want both permanent tax cuts and permanent spending cuts. That way nothing has to trickle-down anywhere, because people will get to retain, spend, and invest their own money.

Please use this Dispatch to educate, recruit, and increase the pressure on Congress. Forward this message to others and Digg it on our blog.

Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.