Very slick. I make a good portion of my living narrating visual explanations (PPT) of complex concepts, and I appreciate a good presentation.
The missing concept here: the trickle-down argument can make sense, in my opinion, in a more closed economic enviroment, or in a national economy less dependent on trade and less subject to international competitive pressures. In today's globalized economy, however, I think it's a distinct beggaring proposition that the supply-siders (and yes, even the Chicago School types) have never admitted - much less figured out. We no longer live in a world where economic philosophies pitched at the nation-state level hold sway. There is a new Washington Consensus to be found.
As somebody who's paid a top-line tax rate for maybe 1/3-1/2 of my adult life, I have to say that I am deeply disturbed by what has happened to the middle class over the past decade, because, as a foreign policy expert, I know that the intolerance and inward-vision bred by flat incomes impacts our power projection capabilities immensely.
I honestly can't see the argument for keeping the Bush tax cuts. Not in our fiscal situation, debt trajectory, and my deep understanding of the progressive-era tasks on our plate. I'm just not that greedy. I want to leave behind a better country for my kids.
I'm made a lot of money across my career and I am no stranger to hard times, so I don't write as someone who's only lived one type of existence. When you make a lot, you should pay a lot - as in, a higher percentage. The Bush tax cuts should go. They are not in our country's best interests going foward.
I don't see it as a way to a strong defence. I don't see it yielding a strong anything.