Just how fair is fair? Trickle-down economics, whether championed by Republicans or damned by Democrats, has good and bad elements, but is there any better way in a democracy?

Since the 1980’s, and even well before, there has been a substantial attitudinal divide in the USA concerning the distribution of wealth, and the responsibility of those with extreme wealth to give something back. Both Democrats and Republicans have struggled with policies regarding this important social issue, but have their rhetoric had any real effect? Have policies and ideologies such as ‘Reaganomics’ done anything to equalize the spread of wealth in this, the Land of the Free?

The ‘trickle-down’ economics theory states that tax breaks for the wealthy will ultimately benefit poorer members of society by improving the economy as a whole. This assumed conclusion was reached by the argument that if the top earners in our society were taxed less, it would free up more funds for them to invest into business infrastructure and equity markets, which in turn would lead to more affordable goods and more jobs for the middle and lower classes.

While this may seem like a workable theory, it relies on a moral ethic, and does not take into account the fact that the ‘super rich’ may decide to simply accumulate money, and keep it somewhere where it may not be so highly taxed. Standard tactics would include the use of Swiss bank accounts, and hedge fund managers whose job it is to creatively use this money to simply make more money via short selling and other questionable investment strategies. Gordon Gekko – the fictional Wall Street mogul – summed up the general consensus shared by the incredibly wealthy with his catchphrase “greed is good”. Perhaps now, with a global financial crisis at hand, it’s time to ask what went wrong with these policies. Could our society, with the benefit of hindsight, do something to alleviate the stress placed upon the world economy by such laissez-faire attitudes?

The concept of fair taxes has often been at the forefront for both Republicans and Democrats when election time rolls around every four years, but the voices raised in protest at ‘unequal taxes’, from both sides of the fence, suggest that the taxation system itself needs to be closely examined. While it would seem correct to say that everyone must pay their fair share, who is to say what, in fact, is fair? To state that the ‘super rich’ must pay an extra burden for their good fortune may seem more fair to some than it does to others, but in reality, our system of capitalistic democracy has opened the way for a ‘greed is good’ attitude to flourish.

The individuals who have put these policies in place cannot be blamed for their ultimate success or failure. The voting public are responsible for allowing these policies to be brought to bear, and the ‘super rich’ are bound by the rules of our society, as is everyone else. Democracy – the right for everyone to live according to the same set of rules – is a double edged sword, and one we must abide by, whichever side of that sword we happen to have fallen upon. Human nature will always be what it is. Fairness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

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