I read an article very recently (will link URL at the bottom) which said that giving the super-rich more money doesn't necessarily solve anything. Trickle-down economics doesn't work because that money never reaches the average citizen. The super-rich don't spend their money at their local business but rather invest it where it's "safe" (think stocks etc).

When economies around the world began to tank, local business were hit hard. Who shops there? Billionaires? No.

So I agree with you when you say the simple fix was giving the average citizen more money.

As far as the "myth of job creation" is concerned, I agree that it's consumer demand that drives job-creation (healthy economy = more jobs). But I think the problem goes a bit further than mere trickle-down economics.

It's political. Corporations tell governments they will simply pack up shop and relocate elsewhere if say higher taxes or more regulations are imposed. That's one of the reasons why they're given so many cuts - it's to keep what minimal jobs they create from going elsewhere. Been seeing this for quite a while in the UK with Brexit (higher cost of doing business / economy would suffer / harder to trade with Europe etc).

Article I spoke of at the top - https://medium.com/area-84/the-question-whose-answer-is-society-7637edf48d83

It makes you think about how our society is financed and what may be the best option to do it going forward.