Alpe d'Huez said:Back in 1981...
Great post Alpe!
However, if the filthy rich did open a history book their reply to those in poverty would be "let them eat cake".
I have to say, as an outsider now (I moved from Atlanta back to Australia last year), I can't help but think how lucky I was to be able to leave the US. I am highly educated (PhD) and have more than 10 years of post-doctoral experience. Despite this, when I left the US my house was in foreclosure, my life savings had been wiped out, and I had about $30k in credit card debt.
Why? Because my wife got really sick and needed a liver transplant. Despite having health coverage through my employer, we were still out of pocket about $12k/year, and eventually the hospital bills wiped us out. When I was layed off at the beginning of last year because of the economic downturn (and consequently lost my health insurance) we had no choice but to evacuate, and luckily I am an Australian citizen. In Australia I get taxed a lot more, but with socialized health care amongst other things, my wife and I can live quite comfortably.
As Alpe stated, the "trickle down economy" theory has been debunked time and time again. Without the majority of the population having money to spend, the entire economy will grind to a halt. If one rich person has an extra $1million due to tax breaks, is he going to spend more than a thousand people with an extra $1k? Of course he isn't.