Every day we are bombarded with economic assertions. Examples are: Tax cuts to the rich create GDP, and jobs, and higher incomes, and more taxes. These assertions are 99 percent false. And when made with malice aforethought, they are blatant lies. When made with contempt, they are tyrannical lies.

Here is he 99 percent truthful counterpart: The great force behind GDP, jobs, incomes, and taxes is spending. Tax cuts to the wealthy are saved, not spent. Savings goes into stocks, bonds, and real estate. Those are the elements of personal wealth.

In contrast, spending is how profits are generated, and ultimately how wealth is created. We buy things that produce profits, that pay wages, that buy more things and pay taxes, that buy more things, that…it goes on and on in an endless circle. But the math is easy: Consumer spending, plus Government spending, plus Business spending equal GDP. Spenders are the great creators of GDP, and jobs, and incomes, and taxes. Here is the math:

M1 x V1= GDP  [1]

Therefore: $3.4 trillion x 5.7 = $19.4 trillion

Now if a wealthy person gets a new tax cut (say $10 million) does he or she rush out to buy a Big Mac, or fill up his gas tank, or pay his rent? No way! He buys more stocks, or bonds, or another apartment complex. Those investments add to his net worth, but do nothing for the economy. Tax cuts to the wealthy come at the expense to all others.

But, the wealthy argue, we pay 67 percent of all income taxes, while most of those in the bottom 50 percent pay nothing. So don’t tell us we don’t pay our fair share.

You don’t pay your fair share, and that is a fact. The reason is because you receive 90 percent of all the wealth and income, while paying only 67 percent of income taxes. Conversely, those in the bottom 50 percent make only 1 percent of the income, and hold less than 1 percent of the wealth. All live in or near poverty.

Here is the bigger picture: When all the taxes are considered (local, state, and national, including gasoline, income, Social Security, Medicare, sales, real estate, rents, entertainment, tolls, special assessments), something very revealing takes place: Everyone pays just about the same overall rate. And that rate is about 35 percent of incomes.

Now think about those workers in the bottom 50 percent of the income curve who make $20,000 per year. They pay $7,000 per year in total taxes. Explain to all of them why they need to pay more taxes, why their families must go without medical insurance, or food stamps, or unemployment insurance, and why education is beyond their reach. Better yet, explain it to your conscience, then to your God.

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1] M1 is money in circulation, V1 is its annual turnover rate.