Priming the Capitalistic Pump

CAPITALISM, and all the prosperity associated with it, starts at the bottom of the pyramid, where most workers and all poor people dwell. Lincoln, paaphrased here, said it best: "Labor is prior to and superior to capital, and should always be given the first consideration." I have made this argument, the following argument, to at least a couple of intelligent, well educated conservative pro capitalisim people, with, I think, some degree of success. At least, they seemed to buy into it. Societal prosperity begins at the bottom, not the top. Labor preceeds investment capital. In. a consumer based free market economy, demand preceeds supply. Aggragate consumer demand, at any point in time, determines supply, according to basic economic law. To increase prosperity throughout society, demand must increase, and this means increasing the number of consumers with sufficient disposable income to be able to demand and purchase consumer goods and services. After all, a limited number of consumers can and will only purchase a limited number of, say, refrigerators. Capitalistic growth requires population growth. John Maynard Keynes pointed out that under the capitalist system, there is in theory an unlimited potential for increase of material wealth,a dn that, in theory, any given population of people, if allowed to benefit from the productivity of capitalism over time, will eventually racha a state of satiatio, of having alll the goods and services anyone could possibly need or want, in a word; enough is enough. Kaynes talked about the ultimate of apitalism, and what might replace it. IN a thought experienemtn, hepostulated the theoretical economic state in which the entire universe is filled with manufactured material wealth, and ther eis noroom for life itself. Much like the god father of modern capitalism, Adam Smith himself, Keynes advocated for a capitalistc economy, but recognized the philosophical and moral questions implicit in its implenmentation. You have to take care of the people at the bottom of the pyramid first, and work up. Trickle down, supply side economics,known in the U.S. as "Reaganomics", is a sham, a scam, and always been. Adam Smith said it best, in his seminal "bible" of capitalism, "the Wealth of Nations": "All government action favoring the poor is desirable, no government action favoring the wealthy is desirable." If you increase the number of people at the bottom, the poor people, who have steady, disposable income, through employment or government handouts, you increase the number of people able to demand, purchase, and consume goods and services, and thus, the wealth of everyone from bottom to top, including wealthy business owners. Everyone benefits. One does not grow the economy by giving tax cuts to the wealthy, but rather, by getting monsy ito the hands of the poor, and therefore turning them into consumers, demanding supply.AdamSmith argued that free market capitalism should and would automatically "the invisible hand" distribute wealth widely. Instead, our modern capitalism seems to concentrate wealth in the hands of an elite few, almost as if ultimately one single human being will be the ultimate winner, and own all the world's wealth. Everyone, including the wealthy, is better off when economic equality is widespread. It is far preferrable that the working poor get their incoem from honest work. However, I've never seen a business, large or small, turn down a customer who wishes to make a purchase using a cashed welfare check.