All of that to end up saying the economy is wrecked? The economy isn't wrecked yet but the companies who have the wealth position are simply waiting to see if the Democratic administration will be ousted and the new regime will give them an incentive to invest in expansion. The private funding is the only way the economy will expand because tax dollars cannot possibly create expanded production. I am not going into an econ 101 diatribe about it but it is not possible to expand the economy with government funds because there is no production derived from it.
I'm not saying wealth should come from government. Far from it. I don't think the economy is wrecked either, since we are still adding jobs.
However I think you overestimate the role of the super wealthy in the economy. Let's not forget that small businesses account for 2/3rds of jobs generated this last year. Small businesses that are perfectly the right size to fail. I am not content with more wealth being doled out to the wealthy from our tax dollars, while the true job creators are left at a competitive disadvantage. How is that capitalism?
How is it that AIG can pay its executives 218 million dollars in bonuses from bail out money, while the formerly middle class (who are suffering from the damage AIG caused) had to move back in with their parents?
I don't propose that the U.S. Tax itself into prosperity, but we are already heavily taxed, the only problem is that we've spent the money that could have gone to benefit the poor and middle class, and redistributed it to the very most wealthy.
Economic safety blankets are beneficial to the economy because it allows people who might otherwise end up homeless pull themselves out of poverty. We scream socialism, but how much would we save if people were actually able to go to the hospital without going bankrupt? If college students could actually buy homes instead of paying down 5 figure student loans. if the bridges, roads, and highways were actually modernized to facilitate the amount of traffic that travels across it.
Government can't create jobs out of nowhere but it can enhance the economy by investing in the American workforce.