Trickle Down Being Shelved?

A new economic stimulus plan is being considered that may:¹

• Extend unemployment insurance benefits.
  
• Increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly Food Stamp) benefits.

Nutrition assistance would be welcome:


Click for larger.
So ...

• Historian Howard Zinn says we need to increase purchasing power for lower income Americans.
  
• Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) says "we have to prop up consumption" for lower income Americans.
  
• Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich says we should "extend unemployment benefits."
  
• Fed Chairman Bernanke says "consideration of a fiscal package by the Congress at this juncture seems appropriate."
  
• And even though Bush has frowned on another stimulus injection, after Bernanke's call, "the White House has said that President Bush would be ''open'' to ideas for a second stimulus package."

Regardless of who wins next Tuesday, it looks like the trickle down theory (is that what George Bush senior referred to as "voodoo economics"?) is being shelved for the time being.
________¹ Another Stimulus Plan Under Consideration, TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), October 24, 2008.
Map from: As Jobs Vanish And Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record, New York Times, March, 2008.