While on the topic of treatises, I would be dilatory in my approach if I did not review an exposition of one of the most vitriolic debates in the recent election: "Trickle Down Economics." To the unitiated, Trickle Down Economics is based on the premise that within an economy, giving money (in the form of tax breaks and other subsidies) to the top earners of the nation will stimulate increased investment by those top earners into the broader economy. According to this rationale, the economy as a whole will grow and job numbers will increase as these top earners are provided with more capital. This concept has created much heated debate in economic circles.
It goes without question that the rap community would have a dramatic departure from the typical discourse on the subject. For one, rap represents a larger percentage of impoverished individuals. Secondly, it also contains a higher percentage of blacks, who have been denied the levels of wealth that could coalesce the community around supporting any policy involving financial incentives to the wealthy.
It is thus no suprise that one of the oldest and most astute philosophers from the rap community, Fabolous, has devised a provocative critique of the very machinations justifying government subsidies for top earners. With that, let us begin.
I’m old enough to know better, young enough to not give a fuck
Rather hold my head high and die than live and duck
If you’re cool being taken down and giving up
Your lifestyle’s a blow job, the way you’re living sucks!
I done felt pain, waited but no help came
My oh My, what an intro! Summoning the spirits of "Occupy Wall Street," Fabolous postulates in very serious terms about the divide between the rich and the poor. The anger in his call to arms almost obscures the true reality: Fabolous has lived for several years trying to survive in a system that promises social mobility, however he has not realized the opportunity of the American dream. The final phrase, "I done felt pain, waited but no help came" is an effortless personification of the American ideal of generational progress. There is an undeniable subtext of pain in this passage; a longing to fit within the traditional confines of economic mobility, but finding oneself outside of the box.
Fabolous is not actually looking for help, but rather simply stating that he was willing to work within the confines of sacrificing immediate reward for the future of himself and his next generation. It appears, from the tone of the language, that Fabolous no longer believes in this ideal. He equates waiting for the social engines to drive generational growth as akin to lying down. Further, in perhaps his first turn to hyperbole Fabolous analogizes living under the previous paradigm of American exceptionalism and social darwinism is equivalent to waiting patiently for the promise of human ejaculate.
You ever been dying of thirst and smelt rain
Ever been told “go to hell” and felt flames
The water’s to your neck and only gets deeper
Its all down hill and it only gets steeper
Gotta get over it, be a hurdle leaper
The feeling of hopelessness in this passage is visceral. The pure poetry of this prose echoes the muted moans of countless proletariat in ways that only Fabolous can deliver. We can see here the true vortex of Fabolous' argument: there is an undeniable negative externality associated with "trickle down" economics.
This is not an externality that one can quantify or display conveniently in graph form. Fabolous challenges us to go the streets and see the "children left behind" by the unfulfilled promise of a new economy for them. Fabolous summons John Maynard Keynes without the academic glamour and glitz; he has seen that increased income for the rich does not translate into equivalent rises in GDP or income equality. He knows it, feels it and can display it in ways that conjure up images of Yeats in his prime.
The main question to this point is will Fabolous' observations and feelings measure up to empirical evidence. Let us first begin by unpacking the basic economic models that will be used in this analysis.
"When businesses are optimistic about the future and invest in building and retooling, the economy booms, all of us make more money and we put some of it in banks, 401(k)s, stocks, and so on. That is, saving grows to match investment. When companies are glum, the process runs in reverse, and savings shrink to equal investment. This leads to the “paradox of thrift”: if people try to save too much, businesses will see less consumer spending, will invest less, and total savings will end up diminishing rather than growing as the economy spirals downward. A number of Keynes’s followers added the next logical step: shifting money from the high-saving rich to the high-spending rest of us, and not the other way around, will spur investment and growth." - Chris Tilly
The above passage competently portrays the fallacy of providing monetary incentives to the rich: there is no guarantee they will not just place that money into savings and stifle the economy instead.
Further, the empirical evidence garnered by the Congressional Budget Office ("CBO") reverberates the angry cries of Fabolous and Mr. Tilly's theories. In fact, the CBO found that the lack of growth in the middle and lower class staggering.
This data is only confirmed when you look at the income disparity in America as compared to the rest of the world. In terms of inequality, America is bedfellows with the unflattering likes of Cameroon, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda and Ecuador.
It appears that Fabolous is on to something. Let us move forward in his masterpiece to determine if his initial vigor is matched throughout. One can only hope that Fabolous remains strong in his ability to transform the complex economic phenomenons of the world into digestible portrayals of human frailty.
It cost to be the boss, and it ain't get no cheaper
But there’s a man above that we all under bro
No bread truck but he work wonders though!
After you wake up, everything is wonderful
You can overcome anything you undergo
In this stanza, Fabolous calls for all of us under the auspices of Trickle Down Economics to "Wake Up!" We are all under a class of top earners in respect to power, education and opportunity, however Fabolous posits that true power is derived from human capital in numbers. He proclaims that once the workers of the world unite and support Keynesian elected officials everything will be wonderful. Fantastic! Fabolous has pivoted, without any reduction in intellectual velocity, from a discussion of the intersection between economics and humanism to a charged examination of the untapped power of voter participation.
Yet, it seems so natural. Alas, the driving force of any economic idea is, of course, the ability for policy makers to institute and sustain it. Fabolous incites the fires of change through a two-tiered polemic of political and economic solidarity for the working class. We can only hope that the remaining verses are as astoundingly illuminating as the previous.
Dreams of splurging riches, pretty but curvy missus
Chef to serve the dishes, driver to swerve the ditches
I’m just another kid on the curb with wishes
And the streets is tough, on the verge of viscious
So I sold weed and crack, merged the business
That white girl helped a nigga, Fergalicious
But getting money bring jealousy and verbal disses
So when you killing shit watch out for the murder witness
Ah, Fabolous takes a moment from educating the masses to portray the pitfalls of failing to come together in solidarity. He cites jealousy, envy and stress as mitigating factors shrinking the natural fervor to improve ones own position. The old phrase "crabs in a barrel dragging each other down" comes to mind. Obviously, Fabolous is aware of the uphill battle he faces in igniting the masses behind his cause, but if you pay close attention to the tone of his passage you can uncover a muted optimism. Let us peruse the phrase "So I sold weed and crack, merged the business, that white girl helped a nigga, Fergalicious."
Knowing Fabolous' depth and complexity, it goes without saying that he is not literally referring to giving up on the traditional economy and selling drugs. No, no, no, he is merely calling for the great economic thinkers of the Marxist tradition to eschew notions of neo-liberal capitalist success and uncover a new course, nary a new zeitgeist for a united proletariat to cheerfully follow. His dedication to double-entendre warms my soul!
Cause soon as a nigga could the sooner a nigga will
And I don’t owe these niggas nothing
Put that in a nigga will
Alas, we are not disappointed in the outro. He contends that the sooner we get together, the sooner the economic utopia becomes reality. I sit here in peace thinking that one day my children might live in this beautiful picture that Faboulous has painted for our academic senses. Furthermore, his devotion walks up to and even embraces potential death, as Fabolous is willing to devote everything in his capacity to fight for those currently experiencing the disparities in income and opportunity. Even if they do not think they are willing to fight themselves. Bravo, Fabulous your grace in literature can only be matched by the purity of your heart.
In the great words of Mr. Schumpeter, "[w]e fight for and against not men and things as they are, but
for and against the caricatures we make of them."
Nobody understands this more than Fabolous.
Argument Presentation: A++
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