President Joe Biden told the American people on Friday that the American Rescue Plan that provides desperately needed relief to the majority of Americans is a major blow to the Republican’s trickle-down economics lie.

Republicans have been pushing the lie for decades, insisting that giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy would result in money trickling down to the rest of us. But this trickle-down has never actually happened. In fact, the income gap has only widened as the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer and struggle to survive.

The GOP’s 2017 tax law handed trillions of dollars to the wealthiest Americans while most Americans will see a tax hike starting this year, making it even more difficult to get by in a time of crisis. Republicans even have the gall to propose repealing the estate tax in order to give the wealthy another $1.7 trillion all while voting against the American Rescue Plan and opposing a $15 minimum wage.

But another good thing about the American Rescue Plan is that it’s the beginning of a shift away from the poisonous trickle-down bullsh*t Republicans have been forcing upon the country for the last 40 years.

On Friday, Biden marked this shift while hailing the American Rescue Plan as a victory for working people.

“The bill does one more thing, that I think is very important: it changes the paradigm. For the first time in a long time, this bill puts working people in this nation first,” Biden said. “It’s not hyperbole, it’s a fact.”

“The theory was— we’ve all heard it, especially the last 15 years— the theory was, cut taxes for those at the top and the benefits they get will trickle down to everyone,” Biden continued. “Well, you saw what trickle down does, we’ve known it for a long time. this is the first time we’ve been able since the Johnson administration, maybe even before that, to begin to change the paradigm.”

Indeed, trickle-down has resulted in a skyrocketing debt and deficit because the wealthy are not paying their fair share. It has also allowed wealthy business owners to lay off American workers and has never been an incentive to create jobs as Republicans have claimed.

“We’ve seen time and time again that that trickle down does not work,” Biden said. “By the way, we don’t have anything against wealthy people. you have a great idea, go out and make millions of dollars, that’s fine, I have no problem with that. But guess what, you’ve got to pay your fair share, you’ve got to pay because guess what? Folks making— living on the edge, they’re paying. And so again, all it has done is make those at the top richer in the past and everyone else has fallen behind.”

Biden concluded by pointing out that when lower and middle class Americans succeed, everyone benefits.

“This bill shows when you do that, everybody does better. The wealthy do better, everybody across the board. If that’s our foundation, then everything we build upon will be strong,” he said. “A strong foundation, our competitiveness around the world, the jobs here at home, the health and quality of our lives— that’s what the American Rescue Plan represents.”

Here’s the video via YouTube:

Biden is spot on. There was once a time in this country when the top tax rate was higher than 70 percent. That time period between 1940-1980 was the most prosperous time in our history. It saw the rise of the middle class, low unemployment, and lower prices. Americans were comfortable and could do a lot more than just survive. Trickle-down only took our nation backwards as the wealthy received tax cut after tax cut while the rest of us got nothing.

It’s time to raise taxes on the wealthy and close the income gap so we can return to a fairer and more successful economy for everyone, and bury trickle-down once and for all. The American Rescue Plan should be just the beginning of that effort.

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