About 230 years or so after Adam Smith, the Associated Press stumbles into a little bit of economic reality:
It's hard to feel sorry for well-heeled shoppers whose idea of tough economic times is passing on $1,000 Burberry raincoats or that $300 limo ride while the working poor skimp on vegetables and take the bus.
But economists say recent signs of the affluent cutting back could hurt the economy and deliver even more pain to lower-income workers, who are dependent on their business and fat tips.
[. . .]
Cutbacks by the wealthy have a ripple effect across all consumer spending, said Michael Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centers.
Ripple. Almost rhymes with trickle. And, guess what else? Businesses create jobs! Taxing something discourages it, while subsizing it brings more of it! To paraphrase one of our recent letter writers, next thing you know, the AP will be filing a dispatch on the bathroom habits of bears and the religious affiliation of the pope.
