Reaganomics are a significant cause of modern economic strife.

DefinitionsReaganomics - The economic policy of the Reagan Administration a.k.a. trickle down economics. Specifically, a policy that revolves around cutting taxes for the rich in order for the wealth to disseminate to the poor. Also, a policy that cuts spending on domestic services.Significant- important; of consequence.Pros CaseI.Reaganomics harms the economy"For half a century – from the depths of the Great Depression until the rise of Ronald Reagan – the U.S. government invested in building the nation and funding key research. And the country flourished. But Reagan then reversed those priorities." - Robert Parry.For this debate, I will be addressing 4 characteristics of the economy that are usually very good indicators as to whether or not your economy is thriving: GDP growth, Income/wage growth, and job growth.Reaganomics helps none of these(A) Cutting the top tax rate does not lead to GDP growth.In '63, taxes from the rich were cut from nearly 90%, to about 35%. With trickle down economic theory, it's dipped as low as 28%. If this policy was an effective one, we would see an obvious general upward trend of our national GDP, with a correlation coefficient close to -1. Observe the following graph. (1) As you can see, there is no obvious trend. Yes the economy did boom initially, but almost immediately recessed. Under Clinton, taxes for the rich were raised, and the economy strengthened. When Bush Jr. stepped into office, and taxes for the rich were again slashed, the economy quickly recessed again (the 2008 recession). The correlation coefficient between Tax cuts and GDP is actually .3, meaning that it is slightly indicitave of a negative trend.(B) Cutting the top tax rate does not lead to income growth.So it doesn't help the GDP, and even hurts the GDP. So if you still aren't convinced, examine the effect of top tax cuts and income. (1) "Again, we see inconclusive evidence for the power of tax cuts. We do see small peaks in median income growth, a good measure of how the average American household is doing, after top-bracket tax cuts in the mid-1960s and early 1980s, but we also actually see income decreases after the tax cuts of the late 1980s, and strong growth after the tax increase of 1993. It is true that in the year with the worst median income decrease (3.3% in 1974), the top tax rate was 70%. However, it was also 70% in the year with the highest median income growth (4.7% in 1972)!"(1)Reaganomics does not help boost our income or our GDP, and therefore is a harmful economic policy.(C) Cutting the top tax rate does not lead to wage growth.The same story is told for wage growth, when one observes historical evidence.(1) "Not surprisingly, we have mixed results yet again! Growth in average hourly wages did increase during the 1980s following the first Reagan tax cuts, albeit two years after the cuts took effect. But, just like GDP growth and median income growth, hourly wages decreased following the late 1980s tax cuts, and spiked upwards after the 1993 tax increase." (1)Tax cuts just don't help! It can be shown with evidence through our economy. We've had this system for 40 years, and now our economy has been recessed very powerfully. The recession started before Obama was in office, so you can't just shift the blame to him. Our economy failed under Reaganomics. How can you say that it isn't the cause of modern economic strife?(D) Cutting the top tax rate does not lead to job creation.Another point that many Reagan fans love to harp on: Jobs. Let's see how Reaganomics affects jobs. "Here, we see the change in the unemployment rate laid against the top tax rate from 1954 to 2002. Thus, negative values signify a decrease in unemployment -- in essence, job creation. Once again, while the top tax rate trends downward over the period, the annual change in unemployment doesn't seem to trend at all! Although the largest increase (2.9%) did occur in 1975, when the top marginal tax rate was 70%, three of the four largest decreases in unemployment occurred in years when the top rate was 91%. The mixed results do not bode well for those who see tax cuts for the richest as a sparkplug to incite job growth. The correlation coefficient between the variables here is 0.11 -- meaning that there have been slightly more jobs created in years with lower top tax rates, but this pattern is negligible -- nowhere near strong enough to signify a relationship." (1)SummaryReaganomics does not help the economy. Evidence shows that it only hurts. II. Reaganomics is economically immoral."The hard truth for the Republicans and the Right to swallow is that a three-decade experiment with historically low tax rates on the rich has done little more than concentrate America’s wealth at the very top and leave everyone else either stagnating or falling backwards." (2) (A) It is easily exploitedThe most major flaw in Reaganomics is the riches ability to exploit it. The idea is that, once the cup is full, it will spill over. But unlike cups, wealth does not have a physical limit. To fit the metaphor, all the rich have to do is get a bigger cup. And why wouldn't they? What incentive to they have to give to the poor? None! Very few of the rich donate a significant portion of their wealth to the poor and those who do typically also give to the democratic party (the party fighting Reaganomics). Pope Francis writes "Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacra­lized workings of the prevailing economic system.”The rich are greedy, and with the wealth concentrated in their pockets, they now have the power to control government via lobbying.(B) It is the major cause of the modern income gapWith taxes low for the rich, the money stagnates at the top. Jobs aren't growing, GDP is growing, Wages aren't growing, income isn't growing, and the working class suffers. Now, 90% of Americas wealth is held by the top 1% of Americans. CEO wages have grown "Since 1978, CEO pay at American firms has risen 725 percent, more than 127 times faster than worker pay over the same time period, according to new data from the Economic Policy Institute"(3)SUMMARYReaganomics A) does not help the economy, and B) suppresses the majority of Americans. Therefore, it is a significant cause of modern economic strife.VOTE PRO!Sources1. http://www.faireconomy.org...2. http://consortiumnews.com... 3. http://thinkprogress.org...