Defying Gravity: How "Trickle Down Economics" Really Works:

Reagonomics is the "bill of goods" sold to us by the rich who insist that if we just let them keep more of their profits they'll be happy to share with us. Wealth trickles down, we are told, because rich people put all of their profits back into the economy, making everybody wealthier. It turns out that doesn't happen at all. When you build a dam, the area below the dam receives less water.

Today's New York Times reports on what's happened with the economy over the first five years of the new millennium. Average income has actually gone down, while the cost of health care, education, and just about everything else that working class people spend their hard earned dollars on has gone up. The average tax payer in America earns $55,238 a year, which is a figure based on the total income of all Americans. This figure is almost $500 lower than it was in 2000. Interestingly, it is also very misleading about the actual income of most Americans.

90 percent of all Americans earn less than $50,000 per year. Almost 50 percent of Americans earn less than $30,000 per year.