Trickle Up Economics

Right now, as I am writing this, there is a Mexican woman, who barely speaks 100 words of English, tidying up and cleaning this rather large 4 bedroom, 2400 square foot house made messy by a very hairy dog and a not so hairy old man, me. 

She is a very sweet lady who manages to understand my mangled Spanish. I know about 500 words. And another 50 words I would never use around her, taught to me by the busboys and kitchen workers from my early and filthy restaurant days.

Tomorrow my gardener will be here to mow, blow and go and trim the ficus trees that seem to be on some kind of steroidal Miracle Grow. He might be the hardest working man I have ever met. He is also Mexican. Or Guatemalan. Or Colombian. I don't know. Nor do I care. 

Nor do I care about their immigration status. And would remind those salivating over the prospect of "mass deportations," conducted by our own military, be careful what you wish for.

I would also remind them that legality is a construct and differs greatly from morality. Perhaps white people have forgotten that this land, the stuff right under your feet, was taken from Native Americans. There was nothing LEGAL about crossing the Atlantic and stealing, by extreme force, land that was not theirs. 

Manifest Larceny is a better description.

I would also remind them that there was nothing LEGAL about kidnapping Africans and shipping them to North and South America to do the backbreaking nation-building work that gave birth to generational wealth.

For centuries indigenous people who lived in Northern Mexico crossed freely back and forth over what is now a sovereign border, another Euro-construct. If anything, they have more of a legal claim to this land than you or I do. 

And certainly more than Elon Schmuck.

Having lived the majority of my life in Southern California, I only know that I love these warm, friendly, industrious people. I only wish my country loved them back. For all they contribute. 

I didn't study economics in college. And couldn't tell you the difference between Keynesian theory and that of Adam Smith, but I do know this. The immigrants who came up from the South are the lifeblood of the west. They pick our food, paint our houses, build our factories, and sadly they are a source of cheap labor. 

Which means the folks on the rung above them have more disposable income. Which means they can save money and invest money in the companies of the people on the rung above them. And so on and so forth. Until you reach the gold plated rung where 8 (men) sit ogling their enormous wealth and transalting it into power.

We've given Trickle Down Economics a good 50 years to prove itself. It hasn't. And only created Billionaires and people who will never be Billionaires.

It's time to give Trickle Up Economics a shot. A rising tide lifts all boats. Including the yachts.