It’s an article of faith in Republican Religion that tax cuts for the rich bring prosperity for everyone. Supply-side economics, aka trickle down or voodoo, is nothing new. During the Robber Baron Era, the same con job was sold to the public disguised as a bit of folk wisdom, known as “Horse and Sparrow.”
Give a horse plenty of oats and the sparrows will survive off its droppings.
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act passed in 2001 (aka the Bush tax cuts for the rich) were supposed to restore vigor to the economy which had fallen into recession. The Bush tax cuts were heavily weighted to benefit the rich and the Republicans swore that the lower income tax rates would bring in more revenue by stimulating the economy. It’s the same tale that they tell today.
The revenue collected in 2001 was 18.8% of GDP, the highest amount for the entire 8 years of the Bush Administration. By 2009, the revenue collected was 14.6% of GDP, the lowest amount since 1950. (Tax Policy Center)
From August 2003 to July 2007, the private sector added jobs at a moderately sluggish rate of 151,000 per month. Compare that with the last 48 months of the Obama administration when the private sector added 204,000 jobs per month.
All of the job gains under Bush were lost during his last year in office. In January 2001, when Bush took office, there were 111,871,000 people working in private sector payroll jobs. In January 2009, when he left office, there were 111,474,000, a loss of 397,000 jobs.
At the same time, the government added 1,744,000 jobs which may have masked the poor performance in the private sector. The Republicans love big government when they’re in charge of it.
After gaining 313,000 jobs during the Clinton administration, the Manufacturing sector lost 4,543,000 during the Bush administration.
Almost 3 million of the Manufacturing jobs that disappeared were in the Durable sub-sector.
Drilling down into the industries that make up the Durable sub-sector of Manufacturing, Vehicles and Part lost 559,000 jobs.
The Bush years are noted for the financialization of the economy. The entire sector added 172,000 jobs.
Widespread fracking was introduced during the Bush years and 42,000 jobs were added in Oil and Gas Extraction with 134,000 added in Support Activities.
The Republicans got away with it 16 years ago and they know that they can get away with it again, if you let them.