Well, Hug, how about some data.
Metaphors abound to explain economic situations—e.g., “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Another describes a horse well-fed with oats excreting undigested oat kernels that are then eaten from the manure by the lowly sparrow; this is meant to depict the trickle-down (aka supply side) theory of economics where the wealthy at the top of the financial chain are given special favors (e.g., lower taxes) to benefit the middle and lower financial classes as they pick up possible financial scraps from the investments of the wealthy.
The trickle-down parable might be valid for horses and sparrows, but it does not describe financial reality. Tax breaks to the wealthy are often prescribed under supply-side theory, but the GDP per capita growth rate was 4-times higher when the income tax was 81-85% than when it was in the 51-74% range.
David Stockman, as Reagan’s budget director, realized that supply-side economics would not work as he described in his self-admitted “youthful screed,” The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed. Now a hedge fund manager, Stockman extends his thinking to an inevitable future financial collapse in an even ‘screedier,’ The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America where he describes contemporary financial problems being fueled by twin problems: “FDR’s repudiation of the bipartisan tradition of sound money and the New Deal’s incubation of crony capitalism.”
Stockman’s villains in his critique include Franklin Roosevelt, Nixon, Burns, Heller, Friedman, Connally, Schulz, Laffer, Weinberger, Greenspan, Gingrich, Ruben, W. Bush, Paulson, Geitner, Mack, Krugman, Summers, and Obama while his heroes through the years include Glass, Willis, Coolidge, Hoover, Douglas, Warburg, Truman, Eisenhower, George Humphrey, Martin, Dillon, Simon, Volcker, Baker, Domenici, Clinton, O’Neill, Ron Paul, Shelby, Bair.
One notes that these are not Republican vs. Democratic divides. While Democrats are correctly seen as loose spenders and Republicans are equally correctly categorized as the prime perpetrators of crony capitalism, Stockman’s list blurs that divide. It would seem that a possible impending financial crisis and its solution are not found in the vision of the political parties. Who will lead us out of this serious problem? Some folks on this site will offer Trump. But is there any evidence in the past twenty-four months that The Donald has the answer as he vows to keep Social Security and Medicare in place and as he stacks his administration with the epitome of crony-capitalist bankers from Goldman Sachs?