Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 04, 2018

The middle class doesn’t make campaign donations.

“Money is power… and power is an aphrodisiac.” – Felix Dennis

have fun at that idea, Rat

I think Rat was originally supposed to be giving the Finger while shouting “Up yours” in the last panel, but of course that had to be changed. Still funny either way!

This looks like it was originally intended for Pig.

Pat Paulson ended one of his 1972 presidential campaign speeches on “The Smothers Brothers Show” with the following statement: “America, I’ve upped my standards; now, up yours.”

I am puzzled… is that a Rat-twin of President Rat, but from the light siede? Or is he THE ONE RAT, but suffering from multiple personality disorder? Or is it just Monday and I absolutely need a gallon of coffee… right now?

Rat’s idea actually sounds good for a change. Catchy jingle: “up yours”. I’ll tell Trump.

Catchy name.

Trickle Down economics has never worked anywhere or any time it has ever been tried, and never logically could be expected to. Say you have a guy mowing your lawn and he’s doing an adequate job. You get a raise at work. Do you hire someone else to help him, or give him a raise? Neither will the 1%ers. The only reason to hire new workers is that the ones you have are not producing as much product as you could sell. The only reason you would be able to sell more product is that more people have money to spend, increasing the demand for your product. So, if you want to improve the economy, put the money in the hands of the middle and lower classes. They will spend it, not stash it in the Caymans. Trickle down can’t work, but trickle up will improve the economy for everyone, including the 1%ers.

The 99 Percenters Tax Plan

Imagine that, Rat making sense!

The “trickle down” theory always sounded to me like we’re being pissed on!

The US had about the highest, most ridiculously structured corporate tax rates in the world, which was encouraging companies to relocate abroad.

All right.

Rat calling for a flat tax!

The Gocomics censors must agree with Rat’s theory, or else they’re on vacation.

Corporations are voluntary groups of working taxpayers, almost all of whom are Middle Class.

And of course, that’s what actually happens. Wealth moves up, not down. That’s why the wealthy are wealthy. Every dollar in your pocket will wind up in the hands of a rich person. SOME will then trickle back down before moving up again, but not most.

If wealth trickled down, after a while, the poor and the rich would change places. Instead, the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.

What this country needs and what will never happen is a flat tax. Everyone and every industry would be charged a flat tax of 15%. No tax refunds, no mark off for depreciation, no extra charges. We would have a huge surplus, except it will never happen.

Up Yours economics. I like it. That must be UC Berkeley’s answer to the Chicago school of economics.

Hmmm, middle class people are getting raises, unemployment is way down, and trickle down seems to be working. As my supervisor said Stupidity strikes again. The main stream media is less popular than the President. Who is winning the battle of the media?

Love it! This could be the start of a beautiful campaign.

YOU GO, RAT!!!

The Trump tax cuts to corporations was to trickle down to the workers until they asked to raise the minimum wage then the corporations said they weren’t making enough money.

Henry Ford tried trickle up when he raised wages for his workers at the model T plant. Not only were they able to now buy the cars they made raising demand, but Henry was able to pick and choose the best workers from all the available talent. This improved productivity, product quality, and reduced employee absenteeism.

Billionaires need tax breaks so we have to borrow trillions to give it to them.

Forget about health, education, Social Security, Medicare, the social contract…

Trickle down economics works like a two story outhouse. It works great for the folks on top, and not so great for anyone else.

“Stop making sense” David Byrne…

Music to my ears!

Works for me

Tell the President, “UP YOURS!”

Don’t we tell Congress “UP YOURS” every other year; and like cockroaches, they keep breeding and infesting society?

Yes, Rat

Henry Ford understood the trickle down theory very well. He invented the assembly line and a few years later visited a shoe factory where the owner proudly showed him that he had improved on the idea. He not only had an assembly line, but had invented machines to do most of the work, so he had pretty close to no payroll. Ford listened to him explain the idea then asked “Yeah, but how many shoes do you figure those machines are going to buy in the next couple of years?”

That’s right, Stephan. That’s exactly how a healthy economy works! Capitalism works when money changes hands across all strata of society. When one group hoards the wealth, effectively removing it from circulation, the system breaks down.

This is why tax breaks for the wealthy are a bad idea and never help the economy. The game is already rigged towards the wealthy. If only they had enough foresight to see that the more money given to the poor and middle class, the more money ends up being spent by the poor and the middle class. And where do the poor and middle class spend their money? They spend it on products and services offered by corporations!

So wake up, corporate America! When the poor get more breaks and more money, it helps your bottom line FAR, FAR more than having the government just hand it to you!

Snort!

Money alone does not solve societal ills. If so, then the influx of pilfered and pirated gold and silver would have made Europe the happiest place on Earth. It led to its ethical demise because of the underlying evils of how those gains were so ill-gotten (slavery, genocide) and had repercussions as ‘easy wealth’ was a factor in limiting moral development. Or, as Warren Buffet responded to how much $$$ to leave your kids: "’enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.’’Without a rudder, speed is moot.

Rat has clearly never studied economics, neither classical (Smith-Hayek-Hazlitt) nor Marxist, Keynesian, socialist. Whatever trickles, trickles down, never up….

And writing to Congress is unlikely to produce anything beyond a form-letter response….

Exactly why raising the minimum wage makes things better, not worse—more people can afford to buy goods, and also paying a living wage is the decent thing to do. Your luxurious profit margins aren’t a god-given right.