Rising Tide

The Republicans like to use the cliché that a rising tide lifts all boats.  This is one way they try to justify their call for lower taxes.  Since the low-tax policies have been in place for the past 30 years one might expect that all Americans would have benefited from this policy.  However, for all Americans to benefit from the low tax policy, the theory has to be valid.  Unfortunately, for 90% of Americans, the past 30 years have shown this theory to be invalid.  The majority of Americans have not enjoyed increased income or increased wealth over the past thirty years.  In fact, over 40% of Americans have actually experienced lower income and have lost wealth under the low-tax policies of Republican administrations.  The Republicans need to change the cliché to read the rising tide lifts all yachts because only the top 10% of Americans have experienced increases in income and wealth over the past thirty years.  The unfortunate thing is that the majority of Americans who will vote to elect Republicans and allow this low-tax/less regulation policy to again be put into place are the very ones who will get hurt by these policies.  The 10% who benefited are not in sufficient numbers to affect a national election, but do have the wealth to control the propaganda machine.  It is this propaganda machine that has successfully convinced many Americans that in spite of their personal financial circumstances to vote for policies that are not in their best interests.  If you are part of the 10% that may enjoy an AGI in excess of $250,000 per year, the Republican tide will lift your boat, but if you are part of the 90% with an AGI below $250,000 and still vote Republican you’d best learn to swim because your boat has sunk.