Trickle-Up, the New Trickle-Down

Following up on Mike’s follow-up that touched on the failure of trickle-down economic policies to, well, trickle down, it looks like President-elect Barack Obama intends to pursue an altogether different track.

Politico’s Mike Allen has some excerpts from Obama’s prepared remarks, to be delivered today at the National Governor’s Association meeting in Philadelphia.

As president, I will not simply ask our nation’s governors to help implement our economic recovery plan. I will ask you to help design that plan. Because if we’re listening to our governors, we’ll not only be doing what’s right for our states, we’ll be doing what’s right for our country. That’s how we’ll grow our economy – from the bottom-up. And that’s how we’ll put America on the path to long-term prosperity. [Emphasis added.]

Economic policies targeted at those at the bottom, with the benefits intended to work their way up to the top? In America?

Throughout Washington, the heads of hundreds of conservative think-tankers are no doubt exploding simultaneously.

UPDATE: Obama just delivered the remarks, and he veered considerably from the prepared remarks sent to reporters. He omitted the line I highlighted above. Perhaps he saw it as too ideological or antagonistic, or he simply forgot it. However, it will be very interesting to see to what extent his administration’s economic policies reflect that principle.