I just see a bacchanalian splurge that will send us into a real tailspin. Supply-side economics have never done what they are purported to be able to do over an extended period of time. Tax cuts aimed at the supply side of capital can (and sometimes do) spur short-term economic activity, but in the long term, they just add to the deficit and make it more difficult to address the supply side of labor through public investment in programs to raise their productivity.
Hey, you watch your langauge!!!
My theory about this type of system (which has never been very popular around here) is that supply side economics does exactly what it was designed to do, it's just that it was designed to do isn't at all what we are told it was designed to do.
Let's start at the beginning, tax cuts for the wealthy. Let's face it since they are the ones who pay most taxes that's pretty much whose taxes you'd have to cut if you were going to cut anyone's, and since they've been whining for the last 15-20 years about being overtaxed and supporting the whole system by their poor mistreated selves, that seems reasonable, but what does that do? It makes the rich richer. I'm not judging at this point, just stating a fact.
Then the rich are trusted (with absolutely no official commitment, requirements, or fail safe, to invest that money into new businesses and other job creating entities, right? Well I think they really did that to a large extent in the 1920s version, so what then? Who makes the most money from businesses, just like who makes the most money from casinos? The house, right? The richer, who just got richer, got even richer still. Again, not judging just stating a fact.
They did create jobs back then anyway, which did help other socioeconomic groups, which is good, but every effort is taken to keep wages to an absolute minimum, including the crushing of unions. Still people are working, making a living (more or less) which is a good thing, but instead of saving they see stuff they want to buy, stuff that everyone else already has or is about to acquire so they spend money on stuff, which makes them happy in the short run, gut does nothing for "tomorrow" and the demand for this stuff drives the companies to make even more stuff, which provides both more jobs and/or extended employment for the workers, which is a good thing, but just as before who makes the most profits? Same as with the casinos, the rich get still richer which regular people adapt to living paycheck to paycheck and as long as they can pay their bills and buy some more occasional stuff they're pretty happy. Again, just stating facts.
So what's happening with the stock market? Well, the stock market rises and rises,. because things look good on the surface, which makes everyone (to an extent) richer, but mainly those who have the most invested in the market, which would be...you guessed it the casinos. the problem here is that more and more regular people see the fortunes to be made in the market so they start buying stocks but either they don't know what they're doing (lack of training/experience) or they put their money into one of those funds where their "adviser" only charges like a 2% fee for managing their fund, but somehow that 2% winds up being almost 1/2 of their total savings because of what I call "mafia accounting" so those at the top of the food chain keep getting richer and richer from every which direction while those at or towards the bottom think they're doing OK, but most of their wealth is really only on paper and dependent on other people's trustworthiness or good will of others and we all know how that turns out.
Now it's important to remember that in the 1920s this (sort of) worked, for a while anyway, but in the 1980s and especially during W's 2 terms there are so many things and places for the rich to invest in (which don't even help the economy at all) that there's really no need for them to create jobs, just put their money in a nice safe place where it can both earn interest and not get taxed and let nature take it's course.
Then after that 6, 7, 8, 9 years the warning signs that the bubble is about to burst are evidence but those at/towards the bottom have no idea and those at the top aren't telling (assuming they know, which they usually do) so they get out of the market, slowly and quietly, ala ole Joe Kennedy in 1929, leaving the majority of people who aren't experts or can't afford experts, holding the bag when the crash comes. The wealthy then just go inside, close their doors, windows, and shutters, and start the "downsizing" and hibernate while the majority of people try to figure out how to survive.
Then, because of the crash/meltdown the government establishes regulations that should have been in place all along but now that we know the dangers of noone driving the bus we can avoid this happening again. Since the wealthy are the only ones with enough money to tax, they are taxed and the whining (and the hiding of money) commences.
Then in another 15-20 years the DUMAS American people and their MTV attention spans have forgotten and it all starts back up again. Does this sound fairly close? The bottom line is, this type of system helps exactly who it was intended to help, but for the rest of us, it just gives us the illusion that everything is fine, until the bottom drops out, again.