During the 1980 presidential campaign, the Republicans were looking for a candidate to rob President Carter of a 2nd term. Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush were the front-runners. One of Reagan's proposals was an idea where tax cuts for the rich would "trickle down" to help the middle class and poor by "creating jobs". It was initially referred to as "supply-side economics". Bush referred to it as "voodoo economics", and it came to be known as "Reaganomics" - as well it should be.

Reagan won, and the Republicans have been beating this dead horse ever since.

Over the last 40 years, it has not worked. Why should it? - just think for a minute. You give a rich person $500K and what do they do? Do they think to themselves "Hmmm... I should take this largesse and go create a job... Yes! That's what I'll do! Now what sort of job shall I create..."

Of course that doesn't happen. They might spend it on something (a new car... a new yacht), but more than likely they'll just stick it in the bank - an off-shore one at that.

What happens if you take that same $500K and give $1000 to 500 people at the bottom of the economic scale? They spend it, either on food or rent or maybe replacing something they have that is old and worn out. It goes right back into circulation, and stimulates the economy. It can generate a 2 for 1 return on the dollar. How?

Think about what happens when a person goes to a local store and buys a shirt. There is a person working there who sells you the shirt. There is a person there who owns the store. They get some of that money you've spent, and spend it themselves. They also need to replace the shirt they've sold, so they buy another one from their wholesaler. That generates pay for the wholesaler. The wholesaler has to replenish their stock from the manufacturer. That generates pay for the manufacturer. They, in turn, must buy more thread to make another shirt to replenish their stock. Then there's the thread manufacturer and farmer growing the cotton.

How does that increase the value of that original purchase? All along that chain from farmer to your closet, there are people working. It is their labor which adds to the value of the purchase. As you go further along the way, the value-added by the labor of the people gets more diluted, but it's because the fruits of that labor become more distributed among other shirt buyers.

This is how "demand-side economics" works. Money in the hands of those at the bottom flows up to the people at the top. Consumers are the "job creators", because when they demand a product or service, someone must work to provide it. Their labor adds to the economy and allows them in turn to purchase a product or service. This commerce keeps the engine of the economy burning.

Unlike the giveaway for the rich disguised as economic stimulus concocted by the Republicans last year, the plan put into place by President Biden and the Democrats in Congress ensures that those on the bottom get the lion's share of the stimulus. This ensures that they will be able to survive, but also ensures that the increased available spending money will create those "demand-side" jobs to rev up the economy as we come out of a long protracted Coronavirus-created economic slump.

This is the same approach President Obama took in 2009 after the 2008 economic crash. We all know how well the economy and joblessness numbers changed after that one. Look for this to work the same way.