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Whenever I get some mouth-breather pontificating about how tax cuts are the solution to everything that's wrong with the economy, I break it down this way. These people don't understand overarching concepts and ideas, and more than anything else, they can't relate to an example where "someone else" is the person being considered (for example, when you talk to most people about drunk driving, most of the time you'll hear them spout some incredibly harsh solutions up to and including executing the drunk driver on the scene; but when you point out to them that just last weekend, they themselves drove home from your house after having a few drinks, all of a sudden, when it's THEM, it's a different story altogether--why, there are extenuating circumstances that need to be considered!) You have to demonstrate things to them using THEM as the example. And here's how I do it.
You tell them that a country's economy works pretty much the same way a PERSON or a FAMILY'S economy does. You have income (from work or whatever other sources), and you have spending (bills, necessaries, luxuries, etc.) The government is the same way, except the government's income is taxes, while the outgo is spent for programs to help people in myriad different ways. Now, consider your OWN little economy. When YOU are in economic trouble, what is the first thing you do? Do you quit your job? Of course not! That would be probably the stupidest thing you could do. So if YOU can't help out your economic situation by reducing YOUR income, why do you think the government CAN?
Now, flip it around on them (more likely than not, they'll try to flip it around on YOU, but you're prepared for this, right?) They'll probably point out that when you're in economic trouble, it's equally foolish to buy more things (i.e. increase spending). And, in a very narrow viewpoint, they're right. But consider this. If you spend some money on a new car that gets double the fuel efficiency your old one had. If you spend some money on advertising for your home-based business. If you spend money to fix up your home and makes it more energy-efficient. If you spend some money on some education so you can get a BETTER job or a big raise............
So, you see, even when we use YOU as an example, decreasing YOUR income (i.e. cutting taxes) results in the WORST possible outcome, whereas in many situations, increasing your spending (when spending is increased in the right areas) often helps pull you out of a financial hole.
And then you end with the tagline: "So if this is the way it works for YOU and YOUR little economy, why do you think the government's would be any different?" And then, while they're still scratching their temples and staring confusedly at the ground, you just recede into the night, confident that you just blew their whole little "Trickle-Down" worldview to bits.
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