Blurts & Spasms

None of the above.

Everyone in the U.S. benefits from a strong economy, it just varies how much each demographic (poor, middle class, and rich, as further divided by race, gender, age, citizenship status, etc.) benefits from massive increases in GDP. Historically, since about 1972, the rich have benefited far more than the middle class or poor, and the percentage of Americans who can be classified as “middle class” has steadily declined, with a disproportionate impact of stagnant “real wages” on their incomes since 1972 as well. The rich and the poor have had the highest variability of benefit as impacted by policy, with the rich getting exponentially richer, and the percentage in poverty in the U.S. rising or falling sharply with changes in government policies from one administration to the next. The main lessons we have learned over the past five decades are:

1. There is no such thing as “trickle down” economics. It is a deception.
2. The “Laffer curve” is laughable (i.e. not particularly helpful except under very specific conditions).
3. Many macroeconomic policy impacts are not fully actualized or understood until after the first four-year term of a given administration has ended.
4. The economy has done much, much better (for everyone) under Democratic administrations than Republican administrations (again, generally as measured during their second 4-year term).
5. Deregulation has consistently had negative impacts on jobs, wages, competition, and the economic health of the U.S.
6. Implementations of Milton Friedman’s “Chicago School” policies (generally favored by conservatives in the U.S.) have been disastrous for the poor and middle class everywhere they were implemented, but have enriched wealthy owner-shareholders beyond belief.
7. In contrast, when John Keynes’ policies have been implemented, economies have been more consistently beneficial for all demographic groups.

My 2 cents.