The massive tax cut that Donald Trump gifted to corporations was supposed to unleash a torrent of business investment at home, in the form of more hires, new factories, upgraded equipment, and higher salaries.

Predictably, after six months, slashing the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 has produced neither a torrent nor even much of a trickle-down.

The surprising part is that some believed the canard that "70 percent of the wealth will be returned to workers," as Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin repeatedly said. In fact, corporations have shown far less interest in rewarding workers than taking the windfall and giving it to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks. And virtually every week, there is another reminder.

In April, telecom equipment giant Qualcomm laid off 1,500 employees in California alone to get leaner by shedding $1 billion in expenses. One month later, it announced a $10 billion in stock buybacks.

Wal-Mart, America's largest retail employer, announced a $20 billion buyback in anticipation of the tax reform plan. After it was enacted into law in January, Wal-Mart laid off 10,000 workers and closed 63 properties.

AT&T announced $20 billion in buybacks, then it sacked 1,600 employees.

Wells Fargo announced a $19 billion in buybacks, and then said it would close 800 branches over the next two years.

The list goes on. But the bottom line is that stock repurchases for the S&P 500 companies brought back a record $189 billion of shares in the first quarter of 2018.

Nor did this tax cut create an inordinate number of jobs. Though Trump often touts his jobs record, his record pales in contrast to his predecessor: The economy added 3.45 million jobs during President Obama's last 16 months in office, while only 2.96 million jobs were produced in Trump's first 16 months.

As the economics reporter for the Washington Post put it, "Who knew that making America great again meant making job growth a little worse?"

And, as a bonus, it adds $1.8 trillion to the deficit in the next decade.

A rare honest assessment from Trump's party appeared in the Economist last month: "There is still a lot of thinking on the right that if big corporations are happy, they're going to take the money they're saving and reinvest it in American workers," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said. "In fact, they bought back shares, a few gave out bonuses; there's no evidence whatsoever that the money's been massively poured back into the American worker."

The cuts did, however, pour a trillion-dollar pile of pain on the shoulders of the middle class, which for decades has endured wage stagnation while contending with rising costs for housing, health care, and education.

Inside the rubber-room presidency, Trump considers this "an economic miracle" without knowing how it applies to the real world. One analysis says the average worker's wage has risen $17 a month, which is next to meaningless given the other variables that affect take-home pay.

Voters get it. Barely 1-in-3 approve of the Trump's miracle, and only 1-in-5 believe they have benefited from it personally. They realize the GOP took money we did not have and used it to enrich people like Trump - only to turn around and launch attacks on programs for the poor, such as food stamps.

Right on cue, Trump is pondering another round of corporate tax cuts because he believes that it's "a great stimulus." For voter turnout, we hope.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.