Glenn Conway: Growth not ‘trickling down’

George Will’s July 11 column “Is anemic growth the new normal?” contained the following text: “Those whose wealth comes from wages ... are losing ground.” Boy, is this a remarkable insight or what?

Ever since the Reagan administration, people who have championed the idea of “trickle-down economics” have claimed that by cutting taxes to enable the wealthy and corporations to make more would result in the middle and lower level earners getting more, too.

Those people lied and/or continue to lie in the face of facts that show that between 90 and 100 percent of net wealth growth each year is now going to the wealthiest few. And those few are holding the money and not distributing it down.

Economic growth is lagging because growth occurs only when there is a net increase in consumption from year to year. And net increases depend on more people spending more. Any income growth is going to the wealthiest and not to the consumers who drive net economic growth.

This is not a particularly difficult concept to understand.

This story was originally published July 17, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Glenn Conway: Growth not ‘trickling down’."